The role of women from popular groups in Manaus concerning health care production

Abstract

This work presents the results of an investigation about the woman's role in the production of health care within the family context. We use categories such as mother's social role, work sharing, power relations, taking care of the other and self health care. Twenty-one professionals belonging to two Family Health Program teams and eleven families living in a popular area in the city of Manaus were interviewed. We found that the interviewed women provide health care for their family members in a broad way, including many people and many care dimensions, such as physical and environmental care, following medical prescriptions and monitoring health on a daily basis. These actions have great importance to the solving capability of medical interventions. However, we see that the good performance of this care is strongly influenced by aspects of the concrete reality, which delimit resources and possibilities, and by aspects of the relational dynamics of the family to which these women belong, which favor or hinder their performance.