Abstract
ABSTRACTObjective:to analyze the scientific production on obstetric violence by identifying and discussing its main characteristics in the routine care for the pregnant-puerperal cycle. Method:integrative literature review of 24 publications indexed in the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online, SciVerse Scopus, Web of Science and the Scientific Electronic Library Online and Virtual Health Library. Results:the publications are intensified from 2015 onwards and present methodological designs of quantitative and qualitative nature. In the discussion, we first address the concept of obstetric violence and its different forms of occurrence in care. Then, interfaces of the phenomenon are presented with reflections related to the conception of gender, the different actors involved, the institutionalization, and the invisibility and trivialization of the event. Finally, strategies to combat the problem are presented through academic training, women’s awareness, proposals of social mobilization, and creation of public policies and laws. Conclusion:obstetric violence portrays a violation of human rights and a serious public health problem and is revealed in the form of negligent, reckless, omissive, discriminatory and disrespectful acts practiced by health professionals and legitimized by the symbolic relations of power that naturalize and trivialize their occurrence.
Highlights
IntroductionHealth professionals, clothed in their technicalscientific authority and backed by unequal power relationships before female users, use authority to maintain obedience to rules, disrupting human interactions and leading to the weakening of links among their patients and the crisis of confidence in the care that is provided as such approach entails the loss of the woman’s autonomy and her right to decide on matters related to her body(2-4)
The following inclusion criteria were established: publications of a quantitative and qualitative nature, in the Portuguese, English or Spanish languages, published from 2007 to 2017 and answering the following guiding question: How is the phenomenon of Obstetric Violence (OV) characterized in the daily care of the pregnant-puerperal cycle? The time interval was chosen based on the desire to analyze the productions that occurred after the adoption of the Organic Law on Women’s Rights to a Life Free of Violence in 2006 in Venezuela as a landmark of the repudiation of obstetric care marked by OV
The analysis of the data of the 24 publications included in this article revealed that 80% of them had been published in the last three years - 2015 (40%); 2016 (28%); 2017 (12%), reflecting the contemporaneousness of OV and the emerging need for this subject to be discussed on the world scenario
Summary
Health professionals, clothed in their technicalscientific authority and backed by unequal power relationships before female users, use authority to maintain obedience to rules, disrupting human interactions and leading to the weakening of links among their patients and the crisis of confidence in the care that is provided as such approach entails the loss of the woman’s autonomy and her right to decide on matters related to her body(2-4). These relationships are established by the imposition of unilateral authority, creating a fertile ground for the consolidation of the different forms of violence exercised during the labor and delivery care. They experience situations of mistreatment, disrespect, abuse, negligence, violation of human rights by health professionals, especially during delivery and birth(5)
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