Ethical challenges in global research on health system responses to violence against women: a qualitative study of policy and professional perspectives.

BACKGROUND: Studying global health problems requires international multidisciplinary teams. Such multidisciplinarity and multiculturalism create challenges in adhering to a set of ethical principles across different country contexts. Our group on health system responses to violence against women (VAW) included two universities in a European high-income country (HIC) and four universities in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). This study aimed to investigate professional and policy perspectives on the types, causes of, and solutions to ethical challenges specific to the ethics approval stage of the global research projects on health system responses to VAW. METHODS: We used the Network of Ethical Relationships model, framework method, and READ approach to analyse qualitative semi-structured interviews (n = 18) and policy documents (n = 27). In March-July 2021, we recruited a purposive sample of researchers and members of Research Ethics Committees (RECs) from the five partner countries. Interviewees signposted policies and guidelines on research ethics, including VAW. RESULTS: We developed three themes with eight subthemes summarising ethical challenges across three contextual factors. The global nature of the group contributed towards power and resource imbalance between HIC and LMICs and differing RECs' rules. Location of the primary studies within health services highlighted differing rules between university RECs and health authorities. There were diverse conceptualisations of VAW and vulnerability of research participants between countries and limited methodological and topic expertise in some LMIC RECs. These factors threatened the timely delivery of studies and had a negative impact on researchers and their relationships with RECs and HIC funders. Most researchers felt frustrated and demotivated by the bureaucratised, uncoordinated, and lengthy approval process. Participants suggested redistributing power and resources between HICs and LMICs, involving LMIC representatives in developing funding agendas, better coordination between RECs and health authorities and capacity strengthening on ethics in VAW research. CONCLUSIONS: The process of ethics approval for global research on health system responses to VAW should be more coordinated across partners, with equal power distribution between HICs and LMICs, researchers and RECs. While some of these objectives can be achieved through education for RECs and researchers, the power imbalance and differing rules should be addressed at the institutional, national, and international levels. Three of the authors were also research participants, which had potential to introduce bias into the findings. However, rigorous reflexivity practices mitigated against this. This insider perspective was also a strength, as it allowed us to access and contribute to more nuanced understandings to enhance the credibility of the findings. It also helped to mitigate against unequal power dynamics.

Violência sexual contra mulheres por parceiro íntimo e desigualdade de gênero na voz dos profissionais da Atenção Primária à Saúde / Violencia sexual contra las mujeres por parte de la pareja íntima y desigualdad de género en la voz de los profesionales de la Atención Primaria de Salud / Sexual violence against women by intimate partner and gender inequality in the voice of Primary Health Care professionals

É difícil reconhecer o sexo forçado vivido nas relações sexuais no âmbito doméstico como violência. Há também uma imprecisão entre a violência, tal como no sexo forçado, e a desigualdade de gênero, como na aceitação do dever marital. Buscou-se compreender o que profissionais da Atenção Primária pensam sobre essas duas experiências, como interpretam relatos das mulheres e o que fazem sobre isso. Entrevistados, os profissionais dizem que sexo forçado ou sexo sem consentimento explícito são ambos violência, e assim devem ser nomeados. Agindo desse modo, eles pensam esclarecer suas pacientes acerca dos direitos das mulheres. No entanto, no dia a dia, nem todos o fazem e ninguém reconheceu ou nomeou a aceitação do dever marital como desigualdade de gênero. Conclui-se que, se a violência está presente como questão, sua distinção quanto à desigualdade de gênero ainda é um desafio.(AU)

Es difícil reconocer el sexo forzado vivido en las relaciones sexuales en el ámbito doméstico como violencia. Hay también una imprecisión entre la violencia, tal como en el sexo forzado, y la desigualdad de género, como en la aceptación del deber conyugal. Se buscó entender lo que los profesionales de la atención primaria piensan sobre esas dos experiencias, cómo interpretan los relatos de las mujeres y qué hacen sobre eso. Al ser entrevistados, los profesionales decían que el sexo forzado o el sexo sin consentimiento explícito son violencia y deben ser denominados como tal. Actuando así, ellos piensan aclarar a sus pacientes los derechos de las mujeres. Sin embargo, en el cotidiano no todos lo hacen y ninguno reconoció o nombró la aceptación del deber conyugal como desigualdad de género. Se concluyó que la violencia está presente como cuestión y que su distinción con relación a la igualdad de género todavía es un desafío.(AU)

Studies show how difficult it is to recognize what is experienced in sexual relationships within households. There is an inaccuracy between violence as in the forced sex, and gender inequality as in the acceptance of the marital duty. We aimed to understand what health care providers think about these two experiences, how they interpret women's reports and what they do about it. Interviewed, the professionals say that both forced sex and sex with no explicit consent are violence and so they should be named. By doing so, professionals intend to enlighten their patients about women's rights. However, in everyday life not everyone does and no one recognized or named marital duty as gender inequality. We conclude that if violence is present as an issue, its distinction in relation to gender inequality is still a challenge.(AU)

Atenção primária à saúde e os serviços especializados de atendimento a mulheres em situação de violência: expectativas e desencontros na voz dos profissionais / Primary health care and the specialized care services to women in situation of violence: expectations and mismatches in the voice of professionals

Resumo O trabalho em rede tem papel central na assistência a mulheres em situação de violência. Este estudo analisa as diferentes perspectivas desse trabalho para profissionais da Atenção Primária e profissionais de serviços especializados nas áreas de assistência social, assistência jurídica e segurança pública, na cidade de São Paulo, Brasil. Realizaram-se entrevistas semi-estruturadas com 16 profissionais dos serviços especializados e 46 da saúde. Os eixos para a análise temática foram: o que os profissionais sabem e pensam sobre os demais serviços; sua atuação a partir disso; e suas expectativas. Os dados revelaram conhecimento insuficiente sobre os distintos serviços, resultando em dificuldades comunicativas, bem como em encaminhamentos equivocados pautados em idealizações sobre como deveria atuar o outro serviço. Concluímos que cada setor é bastante autônomo e seus serviços partem de seu próprio campo de atuação para definir aquilo que seria melhor para a mulher. O conjunto funciona mais como uma trama de serviços do que como uma rede.

Abstract Networking plays a central role in assisting women in situations of violence. This study analyzes how different the work perspectives are for Primary Care professionals and specialized services professionals in the areas of social and law assistance, and public security in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 16 professionals from specialized services and 46 from the health sector. The axes for a thematic analysis were: what professionals know and think about services other than their own; their performance based on that; and their expectations. The findings revealed insufficient knowledge of the different services, resulting in communication difficulties as well as wrong referrals to other services, based on how other services would ideally work. We concluded that each sector is autonomous and its services start from its own field of action to define what would be best for women. The set works more like a mesh of services than a network.

Autoridade, poder e violência: um estudo sobre humanização em saúde / Autoridad, poder y violencia: un estudio sobre humanización en salud / Authority, power and violence: a study on humanization in health

Este artigo é resultado da dissertação "Saúde Coletiva e Filosofia: contribuições de Hannah Arendt para o debate de humanização" que objetivou a análise do conceito de humanização na produção do campo da Saúde Coletiva. A metodologia foi de vertente qualitativa, sendo o empírico constituído de documentos oficiais do Ministério da Saúde e de artigos selecionados do campo da Saúde Coletiva. Analisou-se como se utiliza o termo humanização, buscando compreender como o entendem e constroem uma conceituação. O quadro referencial foi composto pela bibliografia que examina o contexto histórico das transformações sociais pelas quais passou o trabalho em saúde na Modernidade até a configuração mais atual, além das reflexões em torno dos conceitos de violência e poder desenvolvidas por Hannah Arendt. Reconheceram-se distinções conceituais necessárias na configuração do poder médico nos serviços de saúde, propiciando novas aproximações do tema humanização. (AU)

Este artículo es resultado de la disertación "Salud colectiva y filosofía: contribuciones de Hannah Arendt para el debate de humanización" cuyo objetivo fue el análisis del concepto de humanización en la producción del campo de la Salud Colectiva. La metodología fue de vertiente cualitativa, siendo lo empírico constituido por documentos oficiales del Ministerio de la Salud y de artículos seleccionados del campo de Salud Colectiva. Se analizó cómo se utiliza el término humanización, buscando comprender cómo lo entienden y construyen una conceptuación. El cuadro referencial se constituyó por medio de la bibliografía que examina el contexto histórico de las transformaciones sociales por las cuales pasó el trabajo en salud en la Modernidad, hasta la configuración más actual, además de las reflexiones alrededor de los conceptos de violencia y poder desarrolladas por Hannah Arendt. Se reconocieron distinciones conceptuales necesarias en la configuración del poder médico en los servicios de salud, propiciando nuevas aproximaciones al tema de la humanización. (AU)

This article is the result of the dissertation "Collective health and philosophy: Hannah Arendt's contributions to the humanization debate" aiming to analyze the humanization concept in the production of the Collective Health field. The study used qualitative methodology, and the empirical material was constituted by official documents of the Ministry of Health as well as selected articles in the field of Collective Health. It analyzed how the term humanization is used, trying to apprehend how it is understood and built as a concept. The reference framework was constituted by the bibliography that examines the historical context of social transformations through which working on health in Modernity has gone through, added to the reflections about the concepts of violence and power developed by Hannah Arendt. Conceptual distinctions necessary in the configuration of medical power in health services were acknowledged, providing new approaches to the topic of humanization. (AU)

Institutional violence and humanization in health: notes to debate. / Violência institucional e humanização em saúde: apontamentos para o debate.

This paper starts from humanization policies and the academic debate around them to reflect about institutional violence inside health services. Based on research on scientific publications in Collective Health, it was observed that violence in relationships between health professionals and users - which is at the core of the humanization's debate - is conceptualized as an excessive power in exercise of professional authority. Using Hannah Arendt thinking as theoretical contributions regarding the concepts of 'authority', 'power' and 'violence', our objective is to define and rethink these phenomena. Melting these reflections with the history of institutionalization of health in Brazil, and especially the changes in medical work during the twentieth century, we conclude that the problem of institutional violence on health services is not based on excess of authority and power of professionals, but rather in its opposite. When there is a vacuum of professional authority, and relationships between people do not happen through power relations, there is space for the phenomenon of violence.

Violência institucional e humanização em saúde: apontamentos para o debate / Institutional violence and humanization in health: notes to debate

Resumo O presente trabalho parte das políticas de humanização e seu debate acadêmico para refletir sobre a violência institucional na saúde. Tendo por base pesquisa sobre as publicações científicas na Saúde Coletiva, constata-se que nesse debate a violência que se identifica nas relações entre profissionais e usuários, núcleo das indagações na temática da humanização, é concebida como um excessivo poder no uso da autoridade profissional, sendo esta pouco discutida. Apresentando as reflexões de Hannah Arendt como um novo aporte teórico acerca dos conceitos de 'autoridade', 'poder' e 'violência', objetiva-se distinguir e repensar esses fenômenos. Conjugando essas reflexões com a história da institucionalização da saúde no Brasil, em especial as mudanças no trabalho médico durante o século XX, concluímos que o problema da violência institucional na saúde não se fundamenta em um excesso de autoridade e poder dos profissionais, mas no seu contrário: quando a autoridade profissional se esvazia e as relações entre os homens não se dão através das relações de poder é que está aberto o espaço para o fenômeno da violência.

Abstract This paper starts from humanization policies and the academic debate around them to reflect about institutional violence inside health services. Based on research on scientific publications in Collective Health, it was observed that violence in relationships between health professionals and users - which is at the core of the humanization's debate - is conceptualized as an excessive power in exercise of professional authority. Using Hannah Arendt thinking as theoretical contributions regarding the concepts of 'authority', 'power' and 'violence', our objective is to define and rethink these phenomena. Melting these reflections with the history of institutionalization of health in Brazil, and especially the changes in medical work during the twentieth century, we conclude that the problem of institutional violence on health services is not based on excess of authority and power of professionals, but rather in its opposite. When there is a vacuum of professional authority, and relationships between people do not happen through power relations, there is space for the phenomenon of violence.

El poder médico y la crisis de los vínculos de confianza en la medicina contemporánea / Medical power and the crisis in bonds of trust within contemporary medicine

RESUMEN Basados en el contexto brasileño, en este artículo abordamos el poder médico en términos de los actuales conflictos en las relaciones intersubjetivas que el médico establece en su trabajo, conflictos considerados aquí como producto de una crisis de confianza vinculada a los recientes cambios históricos de la práctica médica. Al interpretar esos conflictos como cuestiones de orden ético y moral, recurrimos a las formulaciones teóricas de Hannah Arendt para analizar con mayor profundidad dicha crisis de confianza. De este modo, a partir de los conceptos arendtianos de "crisis", "tradición", "poder", "autoridad" y "natalidad", realizamos una lectura con nuevos significados de estos conflictos, que posibiliten futuros caminos y nuevas soluciones que eviten una nostalgia del pasado.

ABSTRACT Based on the Brazilian context, this paper addresses medical power in terms of the current conflicts in the intersubjective relationships that doctors establish in their work, conflicts considered here as a product of a crisis of trust connected to recent historical transformations in the medical practice. Reading these conflicts as questions of an ethical and moral order, we use Hanna Arendt's theoretical formulations to further analyze this crisis of trust. In this way, utilizing the concepts of "crisis," "tradition," "power," "authority," and "natality," we search for new meanings regarding these conflicts, enabling new paths and solutions that avoid nostalgia for the past.

[Medical power and the crisis in bonds of trust within contemporary medicine]. / El poder médico y la crisis de los vínculos de confianza en la medicina contemporánea.

Based on the Brazilian context, this paper addresses medical power in terms of the current conflicts in the intersubjective relationships that doctors establish in their work, conflicts considered here as a product of a crisis of trust connected to recent historical transformations in the medical practice. Reading these conflicts as questions of an ethical and moral order, we use Hanna Arendt's theoretical formulations to further analyze this crisis of trust. In this way, utilizing the concepts of "crisis," "tradition," "power," "authority," and "natality," we search for new meanings regarding these conflicts, enabling new paths and solutions that avoid nostalgia for the past.