Work with groups in Family Health: concepts, structure and strategies
for transcultural care. A qualitative study
Maria Teresinha de Oliveira Fernandes. Federal University of Minas Gerais, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Sônia Maria Soares. Federal University of Minas Gerais, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Fernandes MTO, Soares SM. Work with
groups in Family Health: concepts, structure and strategies for transcultural care. A qualitative study
[dissertation].
Abstract: This paper aims to investigate strategies of transcultural care emerging from group work in Family
Health programs. It is a qualitative study based on Madeleine Leininger’s theory of the diversity and universality of
care. Subjects were health professionals participating in Family Health teams,
all of whom were group coordinators for diabetics and hypertensive patients in
basic health care units within a sanitary district of Belo Horizonte.
Participative observation and open interviews were used for data collection.
Information was collected between June and November 2006, respecting ethical
issues. Data interpretation was based on Bardin’s
proposal for content analysis. The themes we found were as follows: the group
in a transcultural perspective, how the group is
structured, work strategies with diabetic and
hypertensive groups, the technology of work with groups in a transcultural perspective, and the challenges and advances
of group work in Family Health programs. Results indicate that group work is
still poorly innovative, with a need to increase multidisciplinarity;
current methodologies emphasize a culture of disease and recurrent pedagogic
processes such as approaches still focused on the transmission of knowledge. It
is worth noting that certain professionals, such as nurses, physical therapists
and social workers, practice a differentiated approach centered on the culture
of subjects and on the validation of their experiences. The gaze on diabetic
and hypertensive patients goes beyond surveillance for medication use, reaching
out to those aspects that influence the treatment and control of the disease,
within the context in which such patients live. In practice, we were able to
recognize and confirm the technical and theoretical difficulties that
professionals face when coordinating groups, and to check the belief that
resources and logistical support make it possible for groups to become more
interesting and effective. Groups were started after these professionals joined
the Family Health program, and became a tool to deal with the demands of
diabetic and hypertensive patients, becoming an indispensable tool for the
daily work of health teams. With its modus operandi the method needs to be
recognized, having become a reality in all of the Basic Health Units where,
generally speaking, group work is well developed. Group work raises the
possibility of transforming teamwork to reach a more horizontal relation
between participating agents, meaning that professional power/autonomy needs to
be negotiated and subdivided so that knowledge and decisions become shared.
Main bibliography
1. Leininger
MM. Transcultural nursing: concepts, theories and
practices. 2nd ed.
2. Leininger
MM. Ethnography and ethnonursing: models and modes of
qualitative data
analysis. In: Leininger MM, editor. Qualitative research methods in nursing.
3. Leininger
MM, editor. Culture care diversity and universality: a theory of nursing.
4. Bardin L. Análise de conteúdo. Tradução de Luis Antero Reto e Augusto Pinheiro. Lisboa: Edições 70; 1977. Título original: L’Analyse de Contenu.
5. Munari DB, Furegato ARF. Enfermagem e grupos. 2. ed. Goiânia: AB; 2003.
Fult
text dissertation at the website - http://www.enf.ufmg.br/mestrado/dissertacoes/MTeresinha.pdf
Address for correspondence: Av. Professor
Alfredo Balena 190, Santa Efigênia,
30130-100, Belo Horizonte – MG. E-mail: mtofernandes@gmail.com
Received Sep 26th,
2007
Accepted: Sep 28th , 2007