Violence against women: spontaneous demands v. screening in healthcare centers

Abstract

In spite of poorly structured assistance and the fact that only a few instances of abuse are detected, the response to women's demands and assisting those who have been victims of violence is part of their right to healthcare. This work attempts to diagnose the situation regarding health services through the assessment of the degree of emergency in violence-related demands coming from users of a healthcare facility of the public network through the comparison of results from spontaneous demands with results obtained when actively searching for cases. A first study was conducted with the utilization of participatory observation techniques, followed by the study of patient files, with the follow-up of 142 women; a second study, with a sample of 322 users, was based on an assessment screening. Spontaneous expression occurred during group activities and was also found in patient files, but it did not occur during individual consultation; active assessment detected a much higher prevalence. Therefore, healthcare services require a specific approach and appropriate procedures so as to allow violence against women to surface as part of everyday demands in healthcare.