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Perceptions about the emergency psychological service at a Women’s Police Station

Abstract

The emergency psychological service held at Women’s Police Stations (DDMs) is a tool in the combat against women violence. However, on-duty emergency workers are included in an emotionally intense environment. We aimed at analyzing the perceptions of DDM on-duty emergency workers and agents about gender violence, as well as its psychic impacts on their personal and work routines. We interviewed 23 women aged between 19 and 56 (M=28, 26; DP=10, 15), and analyzed the obtained data using IRAMUTEQ. We evaluated 1,304 text segments, retaining 98.27% of the total, which originated six classes. The most expressive among those was Class 1 “service impact”, with 21.55% of the text segments. Even though the emergency psychological service triggers physical and emotional wear and tear, DDM on-duty emergency workers and agents do not receive emotional support to perform their functions, thus developing personal coping strategies.

Keywords:
violence against women; emergency psychological service; Women’s Police Station

Resumo

O plantão psicológico realizado em Delegacia de Defesa da Mulher (DDM) é uma ferramenta no combate à violência contra a mulher. Entretanto as plantonistas estão inseridas em um ambiente de muita carga emocional. Objetivou-se analisar as percepções das plantonistas e agentes de uma DDM sobre a violência de gênero e seus impactos psíquicos no cotidiano pessoal e de trabalho dessas mulheres. Entrevistaram-se 23 mulheres com idade entre 19 e 56 anos (M=28, 26; DP=10, 15), e o material coletado foi analisado pelo software Iramuteq. Foram avaliados 1.304 segmentos de texto, gerando uma retenção de 98,27% do total, os quais conceberam seis classes, dentre as quais a de maior expressividade foi a classe 1 “impacto da violência”, com 21,55% dos segmentos de texto. Desgastes físicos e emocionais são desencadeados pelos atendimentos, porém as plantonistas e agentes da DDM não recebem apoio emocional para realizar suas funções, tendo assim que desenvolver estratégias de enfrentamento pessoal.

Palavras-chave:
violência contra a mulher; plantão psicológico; Delegacia de Defesa da Mulher

Resumen

El turno psicológico realizado en Estación de Defensa de la Mujer (EDM) es una herramienta para combatir la violencia contra la mujer. Sin embargo, los oficiales de guardia se encuentran insertados en el ambiente de mucha carga emocional. Este estudio tuvo como objetivo analizar las percepciones de los oficiales de guardia y de agentes de EDM sobre la violencia de género y sus impactos psíquicos en la rutina personal y laboral de estas mujeres. Se entrevistó a 23 mujeres, de entre 19 y 56 años (M=28,26; DE=10,15), y para el análisis de datos se utilizó el software Iramuteq. Se analizaron 1.304 segmentos de texto, que generó retención del 98,27% del total, en seis clases, la más expresiva fue la clase 1 “impacto de la violencia”, con el 21,55% de segmentos de texto. El desgaste físico y emocional se desencadena por la asistencia, pero el personal de guardia y los agentes de EDM no reciben apoyo emocional para desempeño de sus funciones, por lo que se debe desarrollar estrategias de afrontamiento personal.

Palabras clave:
violencia contra la mujer; turno psicológico; Estación de Defensa de la Mujer

Résumé

Le Soutien Psychologique tenu au Commissariat de défense de la femme (CDF) est un outil de lutte contre violence envers les femmes ; cependant, les femmes en service sont insérés dans un environnement à forte charge émotionnelle. L’objectif était d’analyser les perceptions des officiers et agents de service d’un CDF sur la violence de genre et ses impacts psychiques sur leurs quotidien personnelle et professionnelle. Nous avons interviewées 23 femmes âgées de 19 à 56 ans (M=28,26; ET=10,15), et les donnés ont été analysé par le logiciel Iramuteq. Au total, 1304 segments de texte ont été analysés, générant une rétention de 98,27% du total, qui engendrait six classes, parmi lesquelles la plus expressive était la classe 1 “impact de la violence”, avec 21,55% des segments de texte. L’usure physique et émotionnelle est déclenchée per le service, mais les officiers et les agents de service du CDF ne reçoivent pas de soutien émotionnel pour remplir leurs fonctions, et doivent donc développer des stratégies d’adaptation personnelle.

Mots-clés:
violence contre les femmes; soutien psychologique; Commissariat de défense de la femme

Introduction

Violence against women is a historical fact, socially and culturally constructed through hierarchical and power relationships arising from patriarchal societies, in which women are subordinated and men dominate over female behaviors and bodies, according to Ceccon and Meneghel (2017Ceccon, R. F., & Meneghel, S. N. (2017). Iniquidades de gênero: Mulheres com HIV/aids em situação de violência. Physis, 27(4), 1087-1103. doi: 10.1590/s0103-73312017000400012
https://doi.org/10.1590/s0103-7331201700...
). For them, patriarchy legitimizes the mechanisms concerning gender inequality through a gender socialization that masks the gender hierarchy.

With feminist movements, the first steps towards achievements in women’s rights were taken (Souza & Faria, 2017Souza, T. M. C., & Faria, J. S. (2017). Descrição dos serviços de psicologia em delegacias especializadas de atendimento às mulheres no Brasil. Avances en Psicologia Latinoamericana, 35(2), 253-265. doi: 10.12804/revistas.urosario.edu.co/apl/a.3687
https://doi.org/10.12804/revistas.urosar...
). Such movements claimed for significant action against domestic violence in police, legal and psychosocial spheres (Oliveira & Moreira, 2016Oliveira, C. M., & Moreira, M. I. C. (2016). Os sentidos produzidos para a violência contra as mulheres a partir da perspectiva dos profissionais da delegacia especializada de atendimento à mulher de Betim-MG. Psicologia em Revista, 22(3), 729. doi: 10.5752/P.1678-9523.2016V22N3P729
https://doi.org/10.5752/P.1678-9523.2016...
). The fight for female citizens’ rights and against domestic violence impunity gave rise to the first Specialized Women’s Care Police Station (Delegacia Especializada de Atendimento à Mulher, DEAM) in São Paulo, in 1985, as well as the recognition of violence as a crime and the State accountability for this issue (Souza, Santana, & Martins, 2018Souza, T. M. C., Santana, F. R. M., & Martins, T. F. (2018). Violência contra a mulher, polícia civil e políticas públicas. Pesquisas e Práticas Psicossociais, 13(4), 1-13.).

Regarding domestic violence, we highlight laws No. 10,886/2004 (which coined domestic violence as a crime) and No. 10,714/2003 (which provided a nationally available three-digit telephone number for reports on violence against women). In addition to those, we must pinpoint the operationalized service at the DEAMs or, in their absence, at the Civil Police Stations, as well as law No. 10,455/2002, which establishes the removal of the aggressor from the victim’s vicinity (Rodrigues & Cortês, 2006Rodrigues, A., & Cortês, I. R. (2006). Os direitos das mulheres na legislação brasileira pós-constituinte. Brasília, DF: Letras Livres. Recuperado de https://bit.ly/3g8ydfG.
https://bit.ly/3g8ydfG...
). Amid the achieved advances and the several other movements that fought against violence, we spotlight the current law No. 11,340/2006, known as “Maria da Penha” law, created to prevent, punish and eradicate violence against women. This law protects and assists victims, penalizes aggressors more rigidly, specifies violence types and provides the police with guidelines towards violence reports (for example, preventive arresting in case of non-compliance with the protective measure, on-the-spot arresting, and the elimination of alternative sentences) (Brazil, 2006Brasil. (2006). Lei no 11.340, de 7 de Agosto de 2006. Recuperado de https://bit.ly/3tgPE1c
https://bit.ly/3tgPE1c...
).

With the emergence of the “Maria da Penha” law, many women began to feel empowered to seek for their rights to live dignifiedly free of violence. However, since entitling to the law depends, among other privileges, on socioeconomic conditions, ethnicity, access to communication networks and support, many women still lack of this protection (Pasinato, 2015Pasinato, W. (2015). Acesso à justiça e violência doméstica e familiar contra as mulheres: As percepções dos operadores jurídicos e os limites para a aplicação da Lei Maria da Penha. Revista Direito GV, 11(2), 407-428. doi: 10.1590/1808-2432201518
https://doi.org/10.1590/1808-2432201518...
). Although it represents a great advance in the fight for violence eradication, the effective implementation of the “Maria da Penha” law faces several challenges. Among them, we address the training of qualified professionals and the interaction between psychosocial, legal and health services, linked to the coping network in which the DEAMs are inserted (Oliveira & Moreira, 2016Oliveira, C. M., & Moreira, M. I. C. (2016). Os sentidos produzidos para a violência contra as mulheres a partir da perspectiva dos profissionais da delegacia especializada de atendimento à mulher de Betim-MG. Psicologia em Revista, 22(3), 729. doi: 10.5752/P.1678-9523.2016V22N3P729
https://doi.org/10.5752/P.1678-9523.2016...
).

For Souza et al. (2018Souza, T. M. C., Santana, F. R. M., & Martins, T. F. (2018). Violência contra a mulher, polícia civil e políticas públicas. Pesquisas e Práticas Psicossociais, 13(4), 1-13.), the services effectively performed in the DEAMs are fundamental for consolidating these advances, since they allow preventive actions, occurrence records, investigation and crime or violation punishment based on the “Maria da Penha” law. Victims who resort to the DEAM to formalize the police report seek not only legal, but also psychological and social support, aiming at safeguarding their rights as citizens and also at finding a shelter for their pain and anguish (Farinha & Souza, 2016Farinha, M. G., & Souza, T. M. C. (2016). Plantão psicológico na Delegacia da Mulher: Experiência de atendimento sócio-clínico. SPAGESP - Sociedade de Psicoterapias Analíticas Grupais do Estado de São Paulo, 17(1), 65-79.).

Currently, there are more than four hundred specialized police stations in Brazil, being the main public policy to confront violence against women (Pasinato & Santos, 2008Pasinato, W., & Santos, C. M. (2008). Mapeamento das Delegacias da Mulher no Brasil. Campinas, SP: Núcleo de Estudos de Gênero Pagu/Unicamp. Recuperado de https://bit.ly/3tiSh2t
https://bit.ly/3tiSh2t...
). Since their creation, several studies have been carried out on violence reality. However, studies on how police officers perceive violence against women and how this reality impacts their personal and work routines are scarce.

As they represent strategies against violence, several studies consider that care and shelter networks are essential to face the problem. Nevertheless, psychology is still elective in the rol of the DEAMs teams in Brazil, and psychologists are inserted through agreements and partnerships with municipal governments and universities, which are relevant given their importance (Souza & Faria, 2017Souza, T. M. C., & Faria, J. S. (2017). Descrição dos serviços de psicologia em delegacias especializadas de atendimento às mulheres no Brasil. Avances en Psicologia Latinoamericana, 35(2), 253-265. doi: 10.12804/revistas.urosario.edu.co/apl/a.3687
https://doi.org/10.12804/revistas.urosar...
).

In this sense, among the psychosocial work options, the emergency psychological service (EPS) carried out through partnerships between justice and universities is a possibility. Therefore, even though its psychological intervention plays a significant role in the development of new public policies, this service is also a challenge due to its complexity. According to Paparelli and Nogueira-Martins (2007Paparelli, R. B., & Nogueira-Martins, M. C. F. (2007). Psicólogos em formação: Vivências e demandas em plantão psicológico. Psicologia: Ciência e Profissão, 27(1), 64-79. doi: 10.1590/s1414-98932007000100006
https://doi.org/10.1590/s1414-9893200700...
), on-duty emergency workers in general face difficulties, such as anxiety, fear and insecurity. For the authors, anxiety derives from the expectation generated by the case and the concern over the criticism in case the worker is unable to circumscribe correctly during supervision. Fear and insecurity arise from the fright of not knowing what to say and mixing their own feelings with the ones of the patient.

During the sessions, on-duty emergency workers experience both confusion and a high psychological demand on their subjectivity. Hence, EPSs require more than only theoretical and technical knowledge of the psychological phenomenon from them. The role of the supervisor is, therefore, paramount so that the on-duty emergency workers understand the scope of their task and develop of their professional identity (Paparelli & Nogueira-Martins, 2007Paparelli, R. B., & Nogueira-Martins, M. C. F. (2007). Psicólogos em formação: Vivências e demandas em plantão psicológico. Psicologia: Ciência e Profissão, 27(1), 64-79. doi: 10.1590/s1414-98932007000100006
https://doi.org/10.1590/s1414-9893200700...
).

An effective EPS requires on-duty emergency workers to be flexible when dealing with obstacles, challenges and scarcity of resources. Under these circumstances, workers often experience helplessness and despondency (Paparelli & Nogueira-Martins, 2007Paparelli, R. B., & Nogueira-Martins, M. C. F. (2007). Psicólogos em formação: Vivências e demandas em plantão psicológico. Psicologia: Ciência e Profissão, 27(1), 64-79. doi: 10.1590/s1414-98932007000100006
https://doi.org/10.1590/s1414-9893200700...
). For Azevedo and Alves (2016Azevedo, M. N., & Alves, P. R. O. V. (2016). Permanência de mulheres em situação de violência: Compreensões de uma equipe multidisciplinar. Revista EPOS, 7(2), 55-72.), lacking of emotional preparation in this situation can affect the lives of victims and professionals, given the context and the elements in which they are inserted. According to Penso, Almeida, Brasil, Barros and Brandão (2010Penso, M. A., Almeida, T. M. C., Brasil, K. C. T., Barros, C. A., & Brandão, P. L. (2010). O atendimento a vítimas de violência e seus impactos na vida de profissionais da saúde. Temas em Psicologia, 18(1), 137-152.), the impact of these exhausting experiences on the lives of professionals is linked to the subjectivity, uniqueness and life history of each individual. Considering these psychic aspects related to the role of the EPSs and the number of professionals who report being unprepared to deal with violence victims, Souza, Ferreira and Santos (2009Souza, E. R., Ferreira, A. L., & Santos, N. C. (2009). Concepções de docentes em relação ao manual sobre violência intrafamiliar. Revista Brasileira de Educação Médica, 33(3), 329-338. doi: 10.1590/s0100-55022009000300003
https://doi.org/10.1590/s0100-5502200900...
) posit that it is necessary to sensitize, raise awareness and empower healthcare students, from early in the course, about domestic and other types of violence along with the physical and mental consequences that they can generate.

Thus, we aim at analyzing the perceptions of on-duty emergency workers and police agents of a Women’s Police Station (DDM) on gender-based violence and its impact on their work and life routines. In addition, we compare who deals more functionally towards the police demands: psychology students or police agents. Another goal here was to assess what could be done to help the women’s team on how to face the tension in the sessions, as well as its potential impact on their mental health. Finally, we reflect, in conjunction with the healthcare team, upon strategies for preserving the mental health of on-duty emergency workers and police agents.

This study will expand the understanding of how broad the violence against women actually is. The answers will be self-informative for the participants, because, when answering the questionnaire, it will be possible to identify their self-care actions and, in the absence of these, they can reflect on how to provide them for their daily lives. Low levels of self-care activities among police agents and psychology on-duty emergency workers will be reported and compared. Moreover, there will be greater motivation for the development of self-care among the participants as a whole.

Methods

This is a descriptive ex-post-facto research, that is, succeeding the fact. A mixed methodology was adopted, with a qualitative data analysis - i.e., analysis of the words used in the speech - along with a quantitative data analysis - namely, the analysis of the frequency that they occurred, using the Chi-square inferential statistical method. The analyses were treated according to the categorical analysis of Bardin (2011Bardin, L. (2011). Análise de conteúdo (70a ed.). São Paulo, SP: Edições 70.). The procedure consists of the following phases: pre-analysis (composing the research corpus and text skimming), material exploration (data coding), result treatment (analyzing clippings in categories), inference (discussing the descriptions with examples) and interpretation (with theoretical basis).

Participants

We interviewed a DDM’s team from a city in São Paulo State, composed of sixteen Psychology interns: five were graduated or former students, ten were at the fifth semester or higher and one was at the tenth semester and was also an intern as a registrar at the same police station (she was also a participant author in another extension project, linked to a university in São Paulo State, which also included the EPS carried out by the Psychology interns at the DDM). The team consisted also of a police commissioner, two registrars, and four Law interns, totalizing 23 female subjects aged between 19 and 56 (M=28,26; DP=10,15).

The inclusion criteria were: being a police agent or psychology intern participating in the ESP Extension Project and being 18 or older on the interview day. Since this study focuses on women, men were excluded, as well as those who disagreed with the Free Informed Consent Form and with the Authorization to use Image and Sound.

Instruments

The information was collected through a structured interview prepared specifically for this study. In the interview, participants were inquired about violence against women and its implications in their personal and social lives. The feelings experienced at the sessions were addressed, focusing on the perceived impacts on personal and work life and mental health, along with what strategies they used to prepare emotionally for the sessions. The questions attempted to evaluate the perceptions of the participants regarding violence against women and how the social approach and care with professionals working in this context should be conducted. The questions were open-ended and the participants could describe their perceptions.

Procedures

All ethical processes were ensured. The research was approved by the host institution’s Research Ethics Committee, under the registration number 4.205.906, as foreseen by the CNS Resolution No. 510 of 2016, which are the Humanities and Social Sciences’ applicable standards. Data collection started only after approval.

The contact with the participants was established through an ESP Extension Project carried out by the Universidade de Sorocaba in a DDM of a municipality in São Paulo State. First, the participants were previously contacted by telephone. They received an invitation to participate and the explanation about the objectives, benefits and academic contribution of the research. Then, interviews were scheduled according to the availability of the interviewees. The psychology interns were interviewed via Skype, using an individually available meeting link. The police agents were interviewed face-to-face at the police station during 30 minutes, on average. Each participant was interviewed individually, ensuring the information confidentiality.

Data analysis

The answers were recorded and transcribed in full, with a previous authorization of the interviewees. The data analysis was divided into two groups: Group 1 (composed of the psychology interns) and Group 2 (composed of the other police agents). The word “agent” was used to designate the other non-ESP related positions. We used the term “interview” (I) allied with the respective number of data tabulation order (I01, I02, and so on). The data transcription generated a monothematic textual corpus that was submitted to IRAMUTEQ (Interface de R pour les Analyses Multidimensionelles de Textes et de Questionnaires), a free software anchored in R, which allows different types of textual corpus analyses with statistical accuracy. Here, we adopted the descending hierarchical classification (DHC), similarity analysis and word cloud (Camargo & Justo, 2013Camargo, B. V., & Justo, A. M. (2013). IRAMUTEQ: Um software gratuito para análise de dados textuais. Temas Em Psicologia, 21(2), 513-518. doi: 10.9788/TP2013.2-16
https://doi.org/10.9788/TP2013.2-16...
).

Results and Discussion

We used IRAMUTEQ to perform a monothematic analysis of the corpus including 23 interviews on violence against women. There were 46,630 occurrences of words, spread in 3,954 forms. According to the DHC (Figure 1), 1,304 text segments (TS) of 1,327 TS were analyzed, generating a retention of 98.27% of the total, which produced six classes. First, the software separated these classes into two categories, one of external and another one of internal aspects. In addition, it created two other subcategories, within each category, related to these same aspects (Figure 1).

Figure 1
Descending Hierarchical Classification results; IRAMUTEQ software.

Class 6, “Approach to violence against women”, comprised of 19.17% of the TS. The words that stood out most were: “violence against women”, “change”, “university”, “course”, “satisfactory”, “theme”, “student”, “knowledge”, “lecture”, “understanding”, among others. Such words express how psychology interns perceive the approach to violence against women by the University and society, and they consider that there is much to be done to reach a satisfactory level:

I think that my course approaches the topic of violence against women more, because it is psychology. But I think the other courses do not have much opportunity to get in touch with this topic. (I01 - psychology intern)

I think the theme violence against women is still very hidden, people throw this theme under the carpet and try to camouflage it. It gives me the impression that people do not want to see what is in front of them. (I16 - psychology intern)

For the Psychology interns, the EPS revealed the need for psychoeducation in schools and universities, as a means of coping with gender violence. According to them, it is essential to revive discussions on the subject in the university as a whole, not only in Psychology. They believe that the topic is not approached as it should. Souza et al. (2009Souza, E. R., Ferreira, A. L., & Santos, N. C. (2009). Concepções de docentes em relação ao manual sobre violência intrafamiliar. Revista Brasileira de Educação Médica, 33(3), 329-338. doi: 10.1590/s0100-55022009000300003
https://doi.org/10.1590/s0100-5502200900...
) confirmed that it is necessary to encourage students to develop social awareness and recognize their role as citizens who oppose to violence. For this, this theme must be included in several levels of education, due to its magnitude and impact on the health of the society.

In Class 3, “Psychological support for professionals and victims”, with 12.12% of TS, we highlight the words: “support”, “work”, “issue”, “psychological”, “therapy”, “professional”, “involve”, “solve”, “search”, “group”, among others. The content tackles the importance of psychological support for the victims and members of the DDM team, as demonstrated in the following sentences:

I think emotional support is important for anyone, regardless of where the person works, they never know when something will harm them. (I20 - police officer)

In the Women’s Police Station, professionals experience a very large emotional charge daily, and it is extremely important that they have this support. (I16 - psychology intern)

Based on the statements provided by the interviewees, the DDM is an emotionally charged environment. Besides, the exposure to the demands brought to the police station creates a need for emotional support, not only for violence victims, but also for the professionals who work there. The reports indicate that this emotional support would contribute to a more humanized action and to the well-being of the agents, suggesting the importance of taking care of those who care. Souza et al. (2018Souza, T. M. C., Santana, F. R. M., & Martins, T. F. (2018). Violência contra a mulher, polícia civil e políticas públicas. Pesquisas e Práticas Psicossociais, 13(4), 1-13.) confirm that care humanization should be a characteristic of not only psychologists, but of the entire team, which seldom has training or supervision at work, leading to inadequate action.

Indicating that the police station team needs a more humanized service does not mean to criticize their work, but to emphasize that victims have the right to be clarified about the legal procedures, at the same time that the available information contributes to encouraging and engaging such women in the process. Additionally, for this reason, they need support and shelter to enable them to make better decisions. Hence, the presence of a psychologist in the DDM environment is essential to welcome victims and mediate, raise awareness and care for the team.

Class 2, “Project expectations”, comprised 21.01% of TS. The most relevant elements were: “we”, “women’s police station”, “project”, “supervisor”, “intern”, “difference”, “room”, “action”, “shelter”, “continuity”, among others. The reports reveal the social importance of the ESP Project carried out at the DDM and the expectations about the results it can yield:

I hope it becomes a moment for victims to feel sheltered, not judged, for them to feel supported at such a stressful moment in their lives. (I01 - psychology intern)

I hope this project spreads the importance of taking care of our mental health, besides generating a psychological shelter at the Women’s Police Station. (I10 - psychology intern)

The ESP is important because it welcomes vulnerable people who seek help. Farinha and Souza (2016Farinha, M. G., & Souza, T. M. C. (2016). Plantão psicológico na Delegacia da Mulher: Experiência de atendimento sócio-clínico. SPAGESP - Sociedade de Psicoterapias Analíticas Grupais do Estado de São Paulo, 17(1), 65-79.) point out that the ESP service developed in the DEAMs provides a space for listening and sheltering. It mainly seeks to ensure the human and social rights of the victim and reveals itself as an important tool for confronting violence. For the authors, ESPs foster the creation of community and social networks and bring psychology closer to health, social and legal assistance services. Moreover, they promote spaces for the resignification of emotional experiences resulting from violence.

Including 13.42% of TS, class 5, “Personal violence overcoming”, portrayed these relevant elements: “suffer”, “realize”, “psychological violence”, “police”, “overcome”, “example”, “interfere”, “identification”, “relationship”, “horrible”, among others. We noticed that 69.56% of the interviewees suffered some type of violence during their lives, and the content of this class depicts how they understand the impact of this violence on their sessions:

The violence I suffered motivated me a lot to take part in the project, because when we go through a similar situation, we end up having more empathy for the situation. (I04 - psychology intern)

I managed to get over it through therapy after some time. And I think it interfered in a positive way, because when you suffer that, you understand the feeling better, it becomes easier to empathize. (I09 - psychology intern)

The interns reported feeling empathy for sessions that were similar to their personal experiences with violence. All participants said that sheltering is very important for a more humanized service. Therefore, empathy for the other’s pain and suffering facilitates the sessions. For Penso et al. (2010Penso, M. A., Almeida, T. M. C., Brasil, K. C. T., Barros, C. A., & Brandão, P. L. (2010). O atendimento a vítimas de violência e seus impactos na vida de profissionais da saúde. Temas em Psicologia, 18(1), 137-152.) this relationship between the woman who cares and the one who is cared for is not neutral, since both carry social and psychic marks due to their opinions towards gender and violence. This stimulates identifications and projections that interfere in the sheltering service, since they understand that their job can make a difference. However, at the same time, this impact galvanizes them intensely, revealing subjective implications that require emotional support.

Class 1, “Service impact”, was the most expressive, with 21.55% of TS. The main lexicons were: “stay”, “service”, “feel”, “happen”, “try”, “heavy”, “identify”, “cry”, “fear”, “shocked”, among others. The content reveals how the service performed at the DDM have implications for the personal lives of both interns and agents:

I felt very bad, when I left the service, I had stomach pain, I suffered several physical things, I cried a lot, after the sessions I sent the supervisor a message. . . during the supervision I cried a lot. (I15 - psychology intern)

I did not feel shocked during the sessions, not emotionally shocked, what I felt was that when I come home, I do not know if this can be considered overwhelming, I brought the person with me, I keep thinking about her, I get worried about her. (I06 - psychology intern)

Body pain may suggest subjective implications originated from the assisting victims of violence and their aggressors, and there is a demand for emotional support to perform such functions. They show that the context of violence generates physical and emotional affections and that agents and interns undergo the harmful effects of violence.

It is important to point out that there is no State proposal for biopsychosocial health care of these professionals to help them recognize and re-signify these subjective implications. The lack of a structured care intervention that alleviates the emotions caused by the service was pointed out by an agent:

Ideally, the State should provide therapy, professional follow-up, which does not happen. Yes, I’ve already sought professional help with therapy... over the years. If you cannot manage the problems you face at work, it can affect you, so I realized that I needed help. (I17 - police station agent)

Faced with the exhausting activity they perform, Law interns and agents revealed to have developed coping strategies to alleviate emotional wear and tear. They reported keeping distance from the case, not getting emotionally involved, seeking not to be affected by the victim’s suffering and thinking about the case only at the police station, not taking it into their personal life, thus developing a certain type of “thick skin”, exemplified by them. We observed the rationalization of violence and pain as a form of protection to mitigate the emotional impacts to which they are subjected. Besides, they attempt to work without psychic damage, as observed in the following statements:

In the beginning the occurrences impacted me, yes. However, as soon as I started to work here, the first contact I had was with an author of a statutory rape, and I kept thinking about it, the registrar told me not to brood over it. (I23 - law intern)

I do not usually feel emotionally shocked, I really feel it, since I joined the police, I realized it, my brain works like it has a little protection button. (I21 - police station agent)

And many (police agents) said that they do not need to take care of themselves because it does not affect them, but one could tell that they always bring up some case that impacted them. (I15 - psychology intern)

Additionally, the sessions are not only exhausting and distressing. They also provide professional and personal satisfaction when the workers realize that they helped the victims effectively. For Dejours (1992Dejours, C. (1992). A loucura do trabalho: Estudo de psicopatologia do trabalho (5a ed.). São Paulo, SP: Cortez.), the work goes beyond monetary rewards, being also a propellant of subjectivities and an occasion self-fulfillment. Nonetheless, the opposite also happens. Frustration arises when the victim abandons the case and reconciles with the offender, which is demonstrated in the following reports:

Mostly, I feel good, I feel useful. But there are some moments that I do not feel useful, I feel that what I did was not helpful, because, at the end of the day, the choice always depends on the other. (I02 - psychology intern)

When I can help some of these women, I feel fulfilled, and the opposite happens as well, I often feel frustrated. (I21 - police station agent)

In Class 4, “Family influence”, with 12.73% of TS, we highlight the words: “home”, “life”, “mother”, “brother”, “son”, “father”, “story”, “touch”, “insecure”, “vulnerable”, among others. We observed an expressive familiar influence in the subjects’ lives, indicating a form of identification or displacement of personal affections during the sessions:

I remember that she [victim] told her mother that she wanted him to change to be with him, and I remembered that when I was pregnant with my daughter, I wanted him to change so we could be together. (I22 - law intern)

It made me remember what I also experience at home, because there is this issue that she did not have time for herself, she had to do everything for the others, she was very criticized. And that, in a way, reminded me of what I experience. (I16 - psychology intern)

According to Penso et al. (2010Penso, M. A., Almeida, T. M. C., Brasil, K. C. T., Barros, C. A., & Brandão, P. L. (2010). O atendimento a vítimas de violência e seus impactos na vida de profissionais da saúde. Temas em Psicologia, 18(1), 137-152.), professionals dealing with victims of violence bear an emotionally-driven, not rationally-driven, ethical concern. Therefore, there is no neutrality during the service, and, to elaborate these contents, workers carry the feelings experienced in the sessions to their family life. This is observed in the speech of psychology intern I11, who wanted to share the session anxieties with her begrudging husband: “often I came home and had to vent about it, I would tell my husband, I need to tell someone. When I told him, he said that he did not like that I worked there” (I11 - psychology intern).

Consequently, we believe that the stress and difficulties of acting extend to their personal life, and that concerns with their personal life extend to work. The barriers separating both dimensions are dim, as pointed out by Penso et al. (2010Penso, M. A., Almeida, T. M. C., Brasil, K. C. T., Barros, C. A., & Brandão, P. L. (2010). O atendimento a vítimas de violência e seus impactos na vida de profissionais da saúde. Temas em Psicologia, 18(1), 137-152.), since the relationships carry symbolic systems that facilitate projections and fantasies from one side to the other.

In the results alluding to the similarity analysis by IRAMUTEQ (Figure 2), the interconnections between words indicate their occurrence and relationships, varying between greater and lesser connectivity. According to the lexical analysis, they can be associated with the classes obtained by the DHC (Chi-square test).

Figure 2
IRAMUTEQ similarity analysis.

We verified that the most prominent terms are: “we”, “believe” and “Women’s Police Station”, which, located in the most central core, demonstrate that the participants reported the perceptions about their experiences in the DDM. The central lexicon “we”, used to describe themselves, is associated with the words: “stay”, “think”, “remember”, “cry”, “impact”, “shocked”, “happen”, “difficult”, among others that demonstrate how they feel about their service and allude to the aforementioned DHC Class 1 “Service impact” (Figure 1).

The links between the lexicon “we” and the words: “assist”, “help”, “victim”, “pandemic” and “stop” demonstrate that, due to the interruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the victims who attend the DDM have been missing the psychological shelter provided by the psychology interns, who, despite the interruption of the project, met the team’s expectations:

The project is very important. With the pandemic we are missing it a lot, victims come almost every day and ask for the psychologists, they ask if sheltering will happen, when things will normalize with this pandemic, they want us to do it and we can’t. (I22 - law trainee)

During the pandemic, many (victims) came here not to register a police report, but just to talk to the psychologist, so it is a very important job, not only here at the Women’s Police Station, but also on the university campus. (I17 - police station agent)

The ESP carried out in the DDM has been important for the victims, according to what the interviewees reported. However, although foreseen by law, the presence of a psychologist in the DEAMs is not yet mandatory in Brazil, occurring only when partnerships with universities are established. In spite of its importance, the service provided by universities is insufficient considering the vast, yet variable, demand because it follows the school calendar. Consequently, the interventions are occasional and the interns perform the sessions without a follow-up for more chronic phenomena. This indicates that, in addition to partnerships with universities, open calls for full-time psychologists in the DEAMs are important.

The lexicon “believe”, linked to the terms “need”, “form”, “approach”, “violence against women”, “lack”, “improve”, “university”, “project”, “satisfactory”, “theme” and “spoken” represent the DHC Class 6 (Figure 1), indicating the perceptions of Psychology interns concerning the social and academic approach to violence against women, as discussed above. They also allude to the lack practices and experiences during the course and that the contact with the theme and practice should happen from the beginning of the course:

We could have an internship there since the beginning of the course, not only now in the fourth school year. In the last year we will have a practice, we need to know more how to deal with it. They could improve the way the topic is approached. (I08 - psychology intern)

The practice was very delayed,... they could have introduced us to it little by little, exposed us more, it didn’t have to be a subject, a whole semester, but they could have exposed us more during the course. (I10 - psychology intern)

Souza and Faria (2017Souza, T. M. C., & Faria, J. S. (2017). Descrição dos serviços de psicologia em delegacias especializadas de atendimento às mulheres no Brasil. Avances en Psicologia Latinoamericana, 35(2), 253-265. doi: 10.12804/revistas.urosario.edu.co/apl/a.3687
https://doi.org/10.12804/revistas.urosar...
) call attention for the importance of discussing the topic in universities, even though these studies have been marginalized or conducted superficially. In this sense, they state that a portion of professionals lack of previous theoretical and methodological knowledge, which can lead to a shallow understanding of the subject, enhanced through working.

Still linked to the lexicon “believe”, the connection with the terms “important”, “need”, “project”, “expect”, “internship”, “motivate”, “participate”, among others, revolves around motivations that led the participants to perform their functions in the DDM. The presented motivations cover two dimensions: personal and professional experiences. With regard to personal experiences, it is noteworthy that 69.56% of the interviewees suffered violence during their lives and the reasons are related to this previous violence history, and perceive their work as a social cause. Souza and Faria (2017Souza, T. M. C., & Faria, J. S. (2017). Descrição dos serviços de psicologia em delegacias especializadas de atendimento às mulheres no Brasil. Avances en Psicologia Latinoamericana, 35(2), 253-265. doi: 10.12804/revistas.urosario.edu.co/apl/a.3687
https://doi.org/10.12804/revistas.urosar...
) verified that psychology professionals get directly involved with works in which they relate with victims of violence and corroborate the research. According to Badinter (1985Badinter, E. (1985). Um amor conquistado: O mito do amor materno. Rio de Janeiro, RJ: Nova Fronteira.), love and identification are closely related, since love only exists in the process of identification with the others, which allows us to suffer or be happy with them. With regard to professional experiences, the participants pointed out the opportunity of gaining greater knowledge on the subject, as cited below:

What motivated me the most was that, in my childhood, I went through a situation of domestic violence with my mother, she suffered, so I had a very present contact with it, and for me it is a very important cause. (I14 - psychology intern)

What motivated me to take part in the project, at first, was the experience, because I had already worked at the emergency psychological service for a semester, and I believed that it would be another type of experience, you know, it would add value. (I05 - psychology intern)

The terms “difficulty”, “violence against women”, “Women’s Police Station”, “room”, “experience”, “police report”, “therapy”, “psychological”, “emergency psychological service”, among others, demonstrate the difficulties faced by Psychology interns when performing the EPS:

We have to walk back and forth with the person, or have a session in the hallway. I know that the emergency psychological service, both in the hospital and in the Women’s Police Station, depends on you to create an environment, but if you have a room to assist that person, or give them a glass of water, the situation gets more private, and that is an improvement for us and for the assisted person. (I06 - psychology intern)

At first, I did not take anything to the woman’s police station, I went without my stuff. And then, when I had nothing to do, I got a little bored, so I felt it little bit hard to cope. Since it is an emergency psychological service, you have to deal either with a lot of service or with no service at all, dealing with nothing. (I10 - psychology intern)

The difficulties pointed out by the participants are related to the infrastructure and the unexpected occurrences during the service (or even the lack of them). We found that the lack of a proper room for the emergency psychological service hinders the sheltering, the sessions and the assisted person’s confidentiality guarantee. The participants reported having sessions in the corridor, in the scullery or in the waiting room, a fact that corroborates the reports obtained by Souza and Faria (2017Souza, T. M. C., & Faria, J. S. (2017). Descrição dos serviços de psicologia em delegacias especializadas de atendimento às mulheres no Brasil. Avances en Psicologia Latinoamericana, 35(2), 253-265. doi: 10.12804/revistas.urosario.edu.co/apl/a.3687
https://doi.org/10.12804/revistas.urosar...
) and Souza et al., (2018Souza, T. M. C., Santana, F. R. M., & Martins, T. F. (2018). Violência contra a mulher, polícia civil e políticas públicas. Pesquisas e Práticas Psicossociais, 13(4), 1-13.). Regarding the unexpected facts, the data coincide with those of Paparelli and Nogueira-Martins (2007Paparelli, R. B., & Nogueira-Martins, M. C. F. (2007). Psicólogos em formação: Vivências e demandas em plantão psicológico. Psicologia: Ciência e Profissão, 27(1), 64-79. doi: 10.1590/s1414-98932007000100006
https://doi.org/10.1590/s1414-9893200700...
), which reveal the anxiety of their interviewees around the expectation of the element of surprise, the unknown and the fear of making mistakes and being judged, since the process requires more than theoretical knowledge.

The connection between the terms “domestic violence”, “situation”, “wife”, “husband”, “school”, “knowledge”, among others, portrays that the lack of knowledge and misuse of the “Maria da Penha” law can be harmful to women themselves and to society. In general, people have already heard about the law, but they still lack a lot of knowledge about this legal device. The interviewees consider that many women go to the police station to threaten their partners. Oftentimes, the situations they bring are out of the actual scope of the “Maria da Penha” law, but they want to use the mechanism to obtain privileges in relation to divorce, custody of children, etc. This can be noticed in the following reports:

Some people, some women are using the “Maria da Penha” law for improper purposes. Sometimes they are not victims of domestic violence, they may have even argued at home, or the divorce, which is bit garbled,... but they come here and want to use this instrument [“Maria da Penha” law], and this, in a way, ends up putting things in jeopardy. (I21 - police station agent)

I think many women also take advantage of the Woman’s Police Station and use it against their husbands, against their partners. (I10 - psychology intern)

Oliveira and Moreira (2016Oliveira, C. M., & Moreira, M. I. C. (2016). Os sentidos produzidos para a violência contra as mulheres a partir da perspectiva dos profissionais da delegacia especializada de atendimento à mulher de Betim-MG. Psicologia em Revista, 22(3), 729. doi: 10.5752/P.1678-9523.2016V22N3P729
https://doi.org/10.5752/P.1678-9523.2016...
) also found these data in their research and report that the police report is used by many women as a bargaining tool, and point out that, even deviated from its purpose, they show an attempt to gain strenght through police authority. In this sense, the DDM is understood as a place to welcome and give voice to these women, not just to carry out the report.

Faced with this problem, the agents believe that interdisciplinary interventions offered in the DDM are important for coping with violence to better assist the victim. However, the DDM lacks of an infrastructure to provide this type of comprehensive service, even if there were professionals to perform it. The physical environment reflects what is socially valued, those deemed as necessary have a room and prominence in the process.

The word cloud (Figure 3), used as another form of lexical analysis, allows us to organize and group words according to their occurrence in a more visible way. The most prominent terms are “we”, “believe”, “know”, “Women’s Police Station”, “talk”, “stay”, “service”, “work”, “therapy”, “help”, “Violence”, “woman”, “think”, “feel”, “understand”, “supervision”, “sheltering”, “other”, “moment”, “happen”, “case”, among others.

Figure 3
IRAMUTEQ Word cloud.

By relating these core terms, in addition to what we discussed above, we found that psychology interns consider the supervision, support network and therapy as the major sources of self-care and care of the other. Besides the self-care, the supervision minimizes feelings generated by the sessions and guides the interns’ actions. That happens because the exchanges expand their vision of the case, preparing them for the next sessions. This is illustrated in the following quotes:

I think the support network helped a lot, the supervisors, my friends who were already at the woman’s station. (I01 - psychology intern)

Mental health is extremely important to perform the sessions, because if you are not well, you cannot help another person. So, I always sought, in the supervision, to have as much guidance as I could on each case, on how to act, and I went into therapy as well. (I16 - psychology intern)

Supervision was overwhelmingly cited by Psychology interns as a component of personal and professional help, offering theoretical and practical apparatus for the service, and strong support network among the interns, who perceive the role of the supervisor as paramount for the development of the project, meeting the expectations, anxiety and anguish for most of the interviewees. The presence of the supervisor, according to Paparelli and Nogueira-Martins, (2007Paparelli, R. B., & Nogueira-Martins, M. C. F. (2007). Psicólogos em formação: Vivências e demandas em plantão psicológico. Psicologia: Ciência e Profissão, 27(1), 64-79. doi: 10.1590/s1414-98932007000100006
https://doi.org/10.1590/s1414-9893200700...
), enables ethical reflection, comprehends the mistakes and manages what is correct. Thus, such actions can be considered efficient and generate adequate results, allowing the interns to perform their functions and preserve their mental health.

Final considerations

We aimed at analyzing the perceptions of a DDM’s on-duty emergency workers and agents about gender violence, as well as its psychic impacts on both personal and work routines of these women. The research indicated that there are gaps and limitations in the combat versus violence against women: the scarcity of psychological care in the DEAMs, which happens only through partnerships with universities; the lack of appropriate infrastructure that contributes to better service, guidance and reception of victims; and lack of a multidisciplinary team to guide the victim through all the necessary services and legal procedures, considering this moment of suffering and vulnerability.

With regard to the emotional impacts of the sessions and physical and mental wear and tear, the workers developed coping strategies to reduce them. Police station agents use rationalization as protection, creating a kind of “thick skin” that prevents them from getting involved. The interns have supervision as a strong ally to express the feelings derived from the service, psychotherapy and the support network as the main source of self-care.

The study indicated low concern about mental health care in society. Considering that psychologists are not part of the team of the police stations, professionals receive psychological do not receive support to assist in their work, which is emotionally exhausting. However, psychological support and mental health interventions seem to be necessary for professionals who work in cases of violence, considering the physical and emotional wear of the environment in which they are inserted and the demands they receive.

We must highlight the importance of the social responsibility of universities in the discussions of social issues, in the development of research that brings light to the society’s needs and in the training of non-alienated, but ethical and political professionals willing to perform a social change. The university is expected to produce greater knowledge, create spaces for discussion and more effective intervention devices.

Psychoeducation in schools was strongly pointed out as a means of confronting and combating gender violence and an instrument for changing discrimination and social inequities, but it is not yet addressed satisfactorily, given the amplitude of the problem. An education that does not critically address situations that disregard human rights turns out to be a “counter-education”, being favorable only to the dominant part of a system of power that depresses one individual to the detriment of another.

This study has limitations. Although not intended to generalize, the reports were obtained from only one police station and are the result of one interview. However, robust methodologies were used, such as the use of IRAMUTEQ to reduce research bias. Given the complexity of violence against women, we highlight the relevance of new research that contemplates other reaches of the consequences of this phenomenon.

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Publication Dates

  • Publication in this collection
    25 June 2021
  • Date of issue
    2021

History

  • Received
    06 Dec 2020
  • Accepted
    28 Mar 2021
Instituto de Psicologia da Universidade de São Paulo Av. Prof. Mello Moraes, 1721 - Bloco A, sala 202, Cidade Universitária Armando de Salles Oliveira, 05508-900 São Paulo SP - Brazil - São Paulo - SP - Brazil
E-mail: revpsico@usp.br