Dialogando sobre paternidade e cuidado em saúde: a perspectiva comunicativa crítica

Abstract

The paternal lifestyle molded into traditional frames and based on the hegemonic model and male traditions is no longer founded on the modernity characterized by the centrality of dialogs in the society and by the profusion of knowledge. Concomitantly, feminist women, pro-feminism men and homosexuals struggles and accomplishments have been emphasizing the discussions and reflections on masculinity and parenthood. Through Critical Communicative Methodology, methodological-theoretical reference in which the reality is perceived as a construction of meanings intersubjectively reached through individuals able to recur to language and action and is based on the egalitarian dialog between the participants of the research and researchers that interact and communicate in order to reach an understanding. The participants are male Community Health Agents who are also parents and the main goal was to identify which elements of their speeches could promote the construction of new parenthood standards related to the health of mother-child binomial during the pregnancy, birth and post-birth periods and which elements set a limit to such construction. Such elements arise from aspects of their personal and professional lives and from the community where they live and work. Two data collection methods were used: communicative report and communicative discussion group. The data analysis was performed along with the participants that are understood as capable to interpret differently from the researcher yet in a different level of understanding. Besides the analysis run on the promoter and limiter elements, it was considered, for the final analysis, the categories system and life s world. The results indicate that professionals, health institutions, all knowledge acquisition regarding health and the existence of laws/directives figure as essential to determine a broader paternal care. Another relevant aspect concerns to the strength of genre socializing process on the determination of men s spot on the familiar day-by-day perpetuating social constructions that attribute its detachment of these moments and feelings of fear and unpreparedness to handle the baby. However, there were reports of paternal experiences that exceeded such traditional determinations highlighted by a broad view of parenthood, of the dialog between family members, of the relationship maintained by the couple and of the existence of favorable support contexts. Thus, we concluded there is a need to develop researches and social and educational spaces that could allow men/fathers to dialog collectively and to create successful strategies for the transformation of the paternal reality on the recent context in order to lead it to their inclusion.