Women, Violence and Mental Healthcare: Issues for (Re)thinking Reception in the Routine of Services

Abstract

The aim of this study was to gain knowledge about the reception and the care for women with mental health demands by services specialized in addressing violence against women and by the psychosocial attention and hospital network of the municipiality of Natal/RN. In these teams, reception and procedures offered to clients in a situation of violence were investigated, through individual semi-structured interviews with the involved professionals. The interviews were analyzed within the theoretical framework of French Institutional Analysis using the concept - tool “ analyzer “ to interpret the data. The survey results revealed difficulties by the staff in the reception of these users, both in dealing with violence and in mental health services, resulting in involuntary psychiatric hospitalizations and other institutional violence.