Gender and Health Needs: the perspective of women assisted in an Alcohol and Drugs Psychosocial Care Center

Abstract

The harmful use of alcohol and drugs is increasingly present in women's lives. The purpose of the study was to discuss the specificities of the female gender in health care, from the understanding of the health needs of women assisted in an Alcohol and Drugs Psychosocial Care Center. The theoretical framework articulated the concept of gender, with the interweaving of health needs and psychosocial care. The methodology was qualitative health research, with the data collection instrument being an unstructured interview referenced by oral history, for the apprehension of the women's life experiences. The interpretation of the data was thematic content analysis. Two categories of analysis emerged: the psychosocial phenomena, which delimit health needs by the affective-relational dimensions, by situations of gender violence and the experience of maternity; and the mechanisms for strengthening autonomy, which present as a health need a greater self-awareness and the strengthening of relational bonds. We can consider that the social and historical constructions of gender reflect the daily actions of women, and for some of them, the form of coping is given by the harmful consumption of psychoactive substances. In this sense, the National Mental Health Policy and the Psychosocial Care Network may consider, for the organization of mental health care for women with harmful use of alcohol or other drugs, the intersection between gender and psychoactive substance, with the following cores of meaning: violence, affective relationships, maternity and self- consciousness.