This article presents preliminary results of semi-structured interviews with 23 healthcare professionals from a public maternity hospital, in the context of an action research project which aimed at promoting the identification of women who suffer violence during pregnancy, and at organizing a routine to support them. The perceptions of gender relations and violence in their personal and professional lives included possible signs of violence which emerge in the consultations and contacts with the patients, and the barriers, possibilities, and necessary conditions for including this question in the hospital routine. We observed that their views were broadened during the interviews and during the subsequent group discussions, in a process of 'constructed visibility' which indicated both the complex social sources of violence and the professional limits and responsibilities that are appropriate to the life situation of their patients and to the working conditions of these professionals.
Healthcare professionals; Domestic violence during pregnancy; Gender; Action research