Perspectiva dos homens na atenção primária à saúde

Abstract

Including men on primary health care is a challenge for public policies, because men do not recognize the importance of promoting and preventing diseases as issues related to their health. This paper has the objective of getting to know male subjects’ opinions about the healthcare offered by the Primary Health Care. The main propose of this paper was to identify the main difficulties that men have when trying to get health care services. It is a qualitative study, based on theories regarding hermeneutics and dialectics. Data collection was made through the application of a sociodemographic questionnaire and also through interviews with men who were in health centers numbers 6 and 7 in Ceilândia, in Distrito Federal to seek health care services or as companions of someone else. The results were analyzed through a hermeneutics-dialectics analysis and they were divided in different categories: the reason they were in a health center; how often they go there and why they seek health care; how they are received and treated when they go to health centers and what is the difference between these and hospitals; difficulties identified and suggestions for improvement; the knowledge they have about the health programs and services in health centers; and the National Policy of Full Attention to Men’s Health. It is evident that nowadays the male population, as patients or companions, is more present in health centers, but they still participate very little in health care preventing.