Domestic and sexual violence in the Family Health Strategy: professional performance and barriers to coping

Domestic and sexual violence is a complex issue and has multiple determinations. The problem requires awareness that goes beyond clinical and biological knowledge. This study aimed to analyze the perceptions of family health professionals on the fight against domestic and sexual violence. A qualitative research was conducted with 18 professionals of seven health teams in Vitoria da Conquista city, State of Bahia, Brazil. Thematic coding and categorizing was used for the analysis. The results showed two main categories: professional performance in the care of patients; barriers and difficulties in the fight against violence. Professionals showed difficulties in identifying cases in which care is based on the symptomatology approach. The main disclosed difficulties were fear and insecurity; work overload and inadequate training. Inter-sectorial articulation is needed for the fight against the problem and the development of permanent education policies.

domestic violence; sexual violence; primary health care; health professional; family health