Integrative and Complementary Practices in Primary Health Care: Perceptions of Service Managers

ABSTRACT

Objective

To understand the meanings attributed by the managers of the Services of the Metropolitan Region of Goiânia to the offer of Integrative and Complementary Practices (ICP) in Primary Health Care (PHC).

Method

Descriptive and exploratory study, with a qualitative approach, conducted between August and December 2017, with 21 managers, using semi-structured interviews that were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed with the thematic content analysis technique.

Results

The interviewees demonstrated an understanding of the context in which the ICP are placed, although they have presented difficulties and insecurity expressing their concepts. The results have elicited three categories, as follows: ICP for managers; positive and negative aspects of the provision of ICP for the health team; positive and negative aspects of the provision of ICP for service users.

Conclusion and implications for the practice

It is possible to conclude that there is a strong influence of the biomedical model, instead of a more integrated approach in the organization of PHC services, which leads to a low and discontinuous offer of ICP in the Metropolitan Region of Goiânia. This conclusion invites us to expand the spaces for reflection on the plurality of rationales of care in the Unified Health System.

Keywords:
Complementary Therapies; Unified Health System; Integrality in Health