The waiting room as a health education strategy in the field of sexually transmitted diseases prevention and care

Abstract

This article presents a waiting room experience developed in the scope of sexually transmitted diseases (STD) prevention and care, developed at an STD specialized service, located in the city of Porto Alegre (Southern Brazil). The objective of the waiting room was to offer a possibility of prevention and health education, based on a participatory and problematizing approach, in an attempt to differentiate it from the prescriptive logic, which is centered on the transmission of information and is present in the health services in a hegemonic way. The activity happened on a daily basis, preceding the medical consultation of men that sought the service to receive STD assistance. Understood as an activity related to the field of professional competences (Campos, 2002), it was coordinated by couples of multiprofessional residents (Psychologists, Nutritionists, Nurses and Social Workers). The waiting room approach used the contributions of the HIV/AIDS counseling practice, and tried to work with emotional/affective and informative aspects, as well as risk assessment. Through a problematizing perspective, the relationships that people establish with sexuality, STD and the use of the condom were analyzed. This intervention enabled greater access to information (on STD, prevention inputs, treatment and HIV testing) and discussion of aspects related to the repercussions of STD on the person's affective and sexual life, transforming the waiting time into a moment of prevention and health education.