Percepción de profesionales de la salud sobre la intervención grupal socioeducativa con mujeres que presentan síntomas somáticos sin causa orgánica

OBJECTIVE: To know the perception and opinion of primary care health professionals on the impact of non-medicalizing group educational intervention (GRUSE) with women who present somatic symptoms without organic cause. DESIGN: Qualitative phenomenological study. SETTING: Primary care health centers in Andalusia, during 2017 and 2018. PARTICIPANTS AND/OR CONTEXTS: Twenty-four health professionals, selected according to their level of involvement in the GRUSE strategy (socio-educational groups). METHOD: A qualitative methodology is applied, through the phenomenological method. The technique used to collect the information is the discussion group, and a content analysis is carried out on it. The software Atlas.ti 8.0 is used as a support resource for the analysis. RESULTS: Health professionals highlight group work as a means of achieving change, and point to the importance of intervention as a non-medicalizing strategy. They perceive that the participants obtain some benefits: the improvement of their personal well-being, the increase of their self-esteem and self-determination, and the generation of social networks, benefits that also affect their immediate surroundings. CONCLUSIONS: In the opinion of the professionals, the strategy has positive effects on women and does not mean an increase in resources for the health system. In addition, they express the importance of provide women with tools to cope with daily life problems derivates mostly from gender mandates of a patriarchal society.