Vulnerabilidades e enfrentamento da hepatite C em Porto Alegre e Região Metropolitana/RS

Abstract

This study aims at analyzing the perceptions about the vulnerabilities and coping strategies used by the users undergoing hepatitis C treatment. Methods: It is a descriptive qualitative research, following a phenomenological approach about subjective perceptions and meanings. Ten interviews, among the twelve that were carried out, with users undergoing treatment for hepatitis C in a public hospital in Porto Alegre, were selected. These interviews reported the interviewees’ therapeutical itineraries. The analysis pointed two meaningful units: vulnerabilities and coping. Results: The study grasps the complexity of the vulnerabilities experimented by the users who face the diagnosis of a disease they do not feel. It also exposes the ways of reacting, the pursuit of treatment, the coping of the side effects of the medication and the restrictions imposed by the disease. The divergences in the ways of coping point to the relation between the context and the production of answers, for the reorganization and resignification of the biographies. Conclusions: The phenomenon of the silent epidemic of hepatitis C produces vulnerabilities which are noticeable since the first searches for care. The coping has been the individuals’ responsibility and is focused on the treatment rather than on the reorganization of their lives. The public policies of caring for these individuals must advance beyond the biomedic view, by means of an intersectorial approach, towards the integrality perception, by respecting the differences and valuing the social support nets.