A trajetória de mulheres com câncer de mama: uma proposta de estudo sobre prática avaliativa de integralidade no município de Volta Redonda

Abstract

This work aimed to approach the therapeutical itinerary of four women with breast cancer, concerning the assistance trajectory in search for care in the Volta Redonda SUS, trying to apprehend whether how their needs, in the illness process, were met by health care services, guided by the integral care principle. The study s object was based on the comprehension of breast cancer as a public health matter, on the contextualization of the breast cancer control program, and on the reflection on evaluation, integral care and therapeutical itineraries as evaluation practice in the health field. As methodological trajectory, so as to meet the objectives, we developed a qualitative study whose main approach was life history. In this perspective, the investigative work and interaction with these four women, aiming to report their experiences, used the open interview for data collection, focusing on their lives after the breast cancer and the search for health care. The interviews, complemented by medical records and field work notes, were the empirical material for the analysis, aiming mostly to apprehend the attributes of integral care in the dimension of health care services organization and knowledge and practice of health professional. We also tried to analyze whether the objectives of the National Program Breast Cancer Control, in Volta Redonda, have been met, considering that it proposes actions to reverse the present situation of breast cancer in Brazil. According to the analyses, health care for women with breast cancer is far from the integral care principle, which guides us and that we defend. In this sense, the narratives give us hints that allow us to state that health care services and professionals are not organized to protect these women, to ensure the correct answers for their needs, based on the integral care principle and on rights and values in defense of human life. We can notice a delay in diagnosis and treatment, with difficult access to several procedures involved in this care e.g., mammography, histopathological results and breast surgery. Breast clinical examination is not performed or valued in primary care services, and practices in specialized units remain centered in medical care, focused on the disease, and there is no multi-professional staff to meet the psychological, social and other needs. Moreover, there was a lack of reference services for breast reconstruction, essential in a integral assistance. We conclude it is fundamental that local managers re-think about services and practices organization in the several Volta Redonda SUS levels, providing care for women with breast cancer and supporting their families, within the perspective of integral care and health rights. Finally, this study defends the therapeutical itinerary as important health care evaluation practice, friendly to integral care, and that can be incorporated to the SUS routine.