Planejamento familiar e configurações familiares sob a ótica de mulheres atendidas em unidades de Estratégia de Saúde da Família do município de Santa Maria

Abstract

Family planning is founded on the principles of human dignity and responsible parenthood, in which the State is responsible to provide a set of actions to ensure to the woman, to the man, and to the couple, the right of establishment, limitation and increase of offspring, according to their interests. It is understood that family planning includes not only biological, but also emotional and cultural aspects. In this regard, it is believed that Psychology can contribute to the amplification of knowledge about this subject. Based on this, the present study intends to know the opinions of women who use the Unified Health System about family planning, and also understand their positions referring to the subject. We also intended to know the participants family structures, and the meanings they attribute to family. Finally, we sought to understand the role and participation of women and men in relation to family planning. In order to so, we conducted an exploratory research with a qualitative approach, in which the data was collected through a semi-structured interview. After the interviews transcription, the technique of content analysis was employed in order to analyse the data. The research sample was composed of 15 women, who represented four Family Health Strategy (FHS) units from different areas of the city of Santa Maria. The results were presented in three articles. The first article identified that none of the four FHS units offered specific actions of family planning. Participants possessed no knowledge about family planning and had not participated in any specific action in this respect. The second article focused on the participants family structures, which are based on affective bonds, and also in the aspect that family members are recognized as those who are part of the support network. In the third article we verified that the woman is perceived as the main responsible for the family s constitution and maintenance. However, the participants revealed that they share responsibilities with their partners in relation to the tasks of family care and contraception, as partners assist the participants in the use of contraceptive methods. We emphasize the indications of an overlap between traditional relational aspects with new patterns of relationships. The final considerations show that family planning activities are important for the well-being and health of the population and is far from being a strategy of demographic control. The possibility of planning the family and the number and spacing of children directly influences peoples lives. Therefore, the deployment and implementation of family planning in FHS units is essential, as determined by the legislation.