Abstract
Adherence to prenatal care is fundamental for diminishing maternal mortality. Usually, adherence is considered in terms of assisted women’s characteristics or the specificities of the health systems and its professionals. Adherence is addressed here as the emergence of the articulation between the rationales and the life realities of physicians and pregnant women. Aiming to understand the adherence to prenatal care, a multiple case study was conducted in the North of Argentina. A total of 47 interviews of pregnant women or women that had been given birth in the last years and to agents of the health system were conducted. The content of the interviews was coded with the support of Atlas Ti software. The research identified two types or interaction between physicians and patients. The first one is based on physicians’ representation of assisted women as being ignorant and disinterested, which leads professionals to insist on their recommendations without taking into account problems faced by women. The second part of conceptions is supported in the representation of women as obedient and responsible, which enables a better dialogue between physicians and patients, albeit without the knowledge of a clear interest of the life context of the women being known.
Adherence to medication; Prenatal care; Physician-patient relations; Maternal mortality
