Abstract
The perceptions of health professionals that serve crack-using women can help in the improvement of health care. Thus, this study verified such perceptions via a qualitative study with 33 participants, divided into three focus groups subjected to thematic analysis. Two a priori central axes were defined: 1) crack-using women, and 2) health services. Subsequently, eight themes and six subthemes were identified. Axis 1) showed: characteristics of the users, lack of support network, violence, gender stigma, prostitution and clinical comorbidities. In axis 2), there were challenges in articulating services and issues to be improved, such as prevention in primary care, motivation of professionals, specific services for women, specific aspects of gestation and stigma. The results allowed to identify and discuss the potentialities and challenges in providing healthcare services to crack-using women.
Keywords:
Public Health; Health Professionals; Substance use Disorder; Crack; Women