Abstract
The aim of this article is to understand the senses and meanings attributed to the daily experiences of primary health care (PHC) users and practitioners in public maternal care services. This is a qualitative study based on these individuals' accounts of their interactions. Focus groups were held with 56 working class women, aged 17-35, mostly self-identified as black or brown, and 115 PHC practitioners, in two cities in a northeastern Brazilian state. The theme of "violence" emerged spontaneously in discussions about rights during pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium. The women reported difficulties in access and problems with the quality of the services offered. The hierarchical and asymmetrical relations between practitioners and users are crossed by symbolic, naturalized and institutionally legitimized violence, which is reproduced in a game of (dis)accountability on the part of the practitioners. In response, users resort to controlling their emotions and resorting to violence. Depending on the context, violence is more or less explicit, acting as a common thread, a symbolic language, present in the relationship between users and health practitioners. Daily life is marked by violent practices that generate violence as a response and reveal the failure to recognize women as integral subjects with rights.
Keywords:
Violence; Maternal Health; Primary Health Care; Maternal Health Services
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