Atendimento a crianças e adolescentes em situação de abuso sexual : o discurso dos profissionais da saúde

Abstract

The sexual abuse of children and adolescents consists of a risk situation and a violation of sexual and particular human rights of the person in development. In the attendance to the victims, the health professionals need to act with instrumental and theoretical resources that are beyond what undergraduate courses offer. One aimed to analyze the actions developed by health professionals in the attendance to children and adolescents who suffered sexual abuse. One aimed to know the meanings attributed by health professionals to this problem, considering the subjects’ context through the Social Representations Theory. The institution where the research was conducted was a pediatric general hospital in the city of Fortaleza – CE. One conducted a qualitative research and the subjects were 21 health professionals. The data were obtained through a recorded semi-structured interview, and for analysis and organization, the Collective Subject Discourse technique was used. The professionals were nurses, doctors, social workers, psychologists and pedagogues, most of them had never taken any training about the theme. One noticed that the subjects understand sexual abuse as a violation, a suffering experience for the children and that has several forms. The identification of the abuse happens through the signals, specific and non-specific symptoms, through the suspect starting from the child’s behavior, through the investigation for material prove and through the child’s report. The conducts after investigation are forwarding inside the institution, notification to the Guardianship Council, prevention and treatment of the traumas resulting from the abuse and the care to the child and the adolescent. The existence of an own routine is noticed by some through the actions of the Mistreatment Prevention Commission, while others notice the existence of a routine in the hospital in general and others argue that there is not a routine. The involvement of the categories is noticed starting from the actions of the Commission. Some subjects do not know how their category is involved, while others understand that there is not involvement, as there is not an own routine. The strategy for qualification of the professionals adopted by the institution is considered as regular, sporadic and non-existent activities. The attendance in the institution and in the health system is seen as possible starting from the resources existing in the service, possible from the actions of the Mistreatment Prevention Commission and hard due to the discredit in the assistance system. The difficulties identified for the attendance are the lack of emotional preparation of the professional, the omission of the family and the insufficient structure of the service. The suggestions to enhance the professionals’ actions in the theme are the preparation of the professionals and the enhancement of the service’s structure. One concludes that the health professionals in the service researched show difficulties for the attendance concerning the preparation, structure of the services and articulation of the health and intersection systems. It is necessary to empower the Commission, create rules and attendance routines, to plan trainings about sexual abuse and other forms of violence against children and adolescents and implement partnerships with similar institutions, aiming to form nets.