OBJECTIVES: to examine health-care professionals' representations of the families of children and adolescents who have been victims of violent crime at a public-sector health referral center in Recife, in the Brazilian State of Pernambuco. METHODS: ten semi-structured interviews were conducted with psychologists, health professionals, teachers and social workers. These interviews were supplemented by participant observation. The resulting material was submitted to content analysis by theme. RESULTS: the professionals recognized the need to work with the family group by way of various types of intervention and highlighted the initial suffering provoked in the families by the need for the public authorities to interfere. A certain polarization was observed in the representations of families with a history of sexual abuse, compared to other kinds. The term "drop out" was used to refer to families failing to adhere to the treatment provided and the representation of families that failed to complete the treatment as "irresponsible". CONCLUSIONS: there is a risk for professionals to stereotype as "uncommitted" those families that fail to adhere to treatment, when they may have experienced difficulties fitting this in with their work schedule. This problem may be especially severe in families headed by women. There are also some communication problems with counselors, which undermines the potential for success of such interventions.
Domestic violence; Health services; Child health services