His and hers: visions and narratives in a Brazilian unit of the Unified Health System (SUS)

Resumo

This article tries to understand the intersections and differences of narratives among health professionals, users of a highly complex institution within the Unified Health System (SUS) and mothers of children with complex health conditions; also reflects on actions that can contribute to a better communication among these two actors and the formulation of guiding policies for this dialogical exchange in a more effective and efficient way. Focus groups and semi-structured interviews were carried out, totaling 36 participants, including doctors, nurses, social workers, managers, cleaning professionals, front desks and users/mothers of children under treatment at this institution in Rio de Janeiro, during a six-month period. The results were treated from a qualitative-quantitative perspective using the MAXQDA® software, which supported the identification of synergies and antagonisms among the collected narratives, pointing to three main categories of narratives: communication flow between actors; the perception about the institution, including care aspects; and feelings about health, illness and death. As perspectives, we believe the results can be inspiring when reflecting on Social Determinants in Health and SUS.