Abstract
This study aimed to assess the quality of care for people in situations of sexual violence in health services, identifying positive and negative indicators, and suggest solutions. This is a cross-sectional study with a quantitative approach and convenience sampling. The sample consisted of 134 professionals (doctors, nurses, and nursing technicians) working in public health services. Three instruments were used, namely, a structure evaluation form, a questionnaire, and a process evaluation form. The results revealed eight positive indicators (adequate infrastructure; rooms for patient assistance; gynecological bed; visual and auditory privacy; waiting rooms; a professional team comprising physicians, nurses, nursing technicians, and receptionists; adequate training of staff to provide health services to people in situations of sexual violence; and most healthcare professionals asking their patients about possible sexual violence situations) and nine negative indicators (reduced number of rooms for patient assistance with toilets; absence of protocols to identify and assist people in situations of sexual violence; absence of leaflets, posters, and other materials on sexual violence; absence of a referral flow chart (specific for people in situations of sexual violence) to specialized services; reduced number of consultations with suspected and/or confirmed cases of sexual violence; non-use of specific protocols; not referral of these patients to the specialized care network; most professionals consider the health unit where they work as unable to help people in situations of sexual violence; a decrease in attendance at health facilities that do not have a protocol for assisting people in situations of sexual violence), making clear the interventions necessary to promote the provision of quality health services that meet the specific needs of people in situations of sexual violence. These indicators are expected to provide subsidies for the improvement of public policies aimed at listening, welcoming, identifying, and treating people in situations of sexual violence.
Highlights
Sexual violence encompasses a variety of behaviors, contacts, and interactions of a non-consensual sexual nature; sexual comments or jokes that cause discomfort; being forced to touch another person’s genitals; be penetrated orally, vaginally, or anally by a penis, or other parts of the body, or objects; being forced to penetrate another person or to practice oral sex with him; be forced to watch or participate in films or photographs and be forced to engage in prostitution, among others [1].Sexual violence can happen in public and private spaces, on the internet and can victimize men, women, children, adolescents and the elderly, regardless of race, color, age, religion, education, and socioeconomic level [1, 2]
What demands from professionals working in health services, in addition to the technical-scientific knowledge inherent to their professional practice, specialized listening, aimed at welcoming and identifying patients who are in a situation of sexual violence [8]
This study aimed to assess the quality of care for people in situations of sexual violence in health services, identifying positive indicators that contribute to improving the quality of care for these patients, negative indicators that may decrease the quality of care, and suggest solutions
Summary
Sexual violence encompasses a variety of behaviors, contacts, and interactions of a non-consensual sexual nature; sexual comments or jokes that cause discomfort; being forced to touch another person’s genitals; be penetrated orally, vaginally, or anally by a penis, or other parts of the body, or objects; being forced to penetrate another person or to practice oral sex with him; be forced to watch or participate in films or photographs and be forced to engage in prostitution, among others [1].Sexual violence can happen in public and private spaces (home, school, street, workplace), on the internet and can victimize men, women, children, adolescents and the elderly, regardless of race, color, age, religion, education, and socioeconomic level [1, 2]. Each year it is estimated that an average of twelve million people suffers from sexual violence in the world [3]. It is estimated that in Brazil 90% of cases of sexual violence are not reported [6]. Many of these people seek health services with physical, psychological, or sexual complaints, but do not mention having suffered sexual violence [7]. What demands from professionals working in health services, in addition to the technical-scientific knowledge inherent to their professional practice, specialized listening, aimed at welcoming and identifying patients who are in a situation of sexual violence [8]
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