Community health workers and their representations of domestic violence against women

Abstract

Objective: To understand the social representations of community health workers regarding domestic violence against women in light of similarity analysis. Methods: This is a descriptive and exploratory qualitative study based on Social Representation Theory. The research was conducted in 11 Family Health Units in the urban area of a municipality in the interior of Bahia and involved 30 community health workers as participants. IRAMUTEQ software was used, opting for similarity analysis and classical lexicographic analysis. Results: The maximum similarity treeof the textual corpus presented two central words, “woman” and “speak”, among which other terms branched out, such as “woman”, “violence”, “aggression”, “psychological”, “man”, “husband”, “home” and “child”. Discussion: Domestic violence against women is understood as a gender issue, which contributes to the silencing of women and their continued exposure to situations of violence. Therefore, it is important that health professionals offer support and know how to identify and handle situations of violence. Conclusion: The results highlight the need to break with misogynistic behaviors rooted in culture, in addition to highlighting the importance of community health workers in the process of combating domestic violence against women.