Violence against women in Primary Health Care: Potentialities and limitations to identification

OBJECTIVE: To determine the potential and limitations of Primary Health Care professionals to identify situations of violence against women. LOCATION: A municipality of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. DESIGN: Descriptive and exploratory study with a qualitative approach. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-one health professionals of three Family Health Strategy units, as well as one Basic Health Unit. The inclusion criterion consisted of being a health worker in these services. The exclusion criterion was to be absent from work by any kind type license during the period of data production. METHOD: The technique used to produce data was individual, semi-structured, interviews in order to collect sociodemographic data and the monitoring by professionals related to the potentials and limitations to identify violence situations. The data collection was suspended based on the saturation criterion. The data were systematized and analyzed by the content analysis technique, according to the analytical categories of health care network and gender. RESULTS: The potential to identify themes were: professional experience, receptive atmosphere, bonding, and listening to the reports of women, children and/or neighbors and observing their behavior; to identify the lesions; prenatal consultations; and home visits. As to the limitations: silence, denial/non-recognition of violence, lack of complaints by women; fear and guilt; flaws and unpreparedness of the health team; and fear due to the presence of aggressor. CONCLUSIONS: It is urgent to recognize the potential of Primary Care and to promote the qualification of professionals in order to identify the situation among visible and invisible complaints, leading to the confrontation of violence.