The academic extension and the prevention of obstetric violence

Abstract

Obstetric violence is characterized by the appropriation of body and reproductive process of women by health professionals, through a dehumanized service, medicalization and use of artificial process, causing the loss of autonomy and capacity to decide freely about their bodies and sexuality, affecting women's life quality in a negative way.  This academic work has the goal of reporting the experience of professors and student on extension actions, with practices of health education to the prevention of obstetric violence, between women assisted by the extension project of a public state university in Bahia. This work is an experience report by members of an extension and research core, whose activities were developed from February to December 2015 with pregnant women assisted at the Basic Health Unit (UBS) in a city of Bahia. The following activities were carried out: clinical services on prenatal, educational practices on health, a conversation circle and capacitation to health professionals about the importance of the humanized attention to women on parturition course. The educational practices on health has proven to be an effective character strategy when the goal is to offer information to a certain clientele. It is a resource wherewith the knowledge scientifically produced in the health field can reach people's daily routine, as it constitutes a set of practices to promote health and prevent of grievances.  The conversation circle carried out with booklet presentation and distribution attracted the interest of the pregnant women and their escorts at waiting room to meet strategies that can avoid and prevent obstetric violence. This didactic model makes possible for students and pregnant women to be closer, at it encourages welcoming and allows intellectual and cognitive development required for an educational action. As for clinical assistance, we were able to recognize women satisfaction when assisted by volunteer and fellow students, and professors of the extension Project. The clinical consults constitute a moment of hearing and dialog between pregnant women and professionals, which becomes possible the establishment of bonds and favored the solvability of health situations presented by the pregnant women. The capacitation of ACS represented one more link to the consolidation chain of the movement in defense of the attention on Humanized Childbirth, in other words, a way to say no to obstetric violence, since one of the discussed subjects on this capacitation was the presence of an escort during prenatal, childbirth and puerperium care, guaranteed by Law 11.108 of 2005. Thus, the capacitation also constituted an expansion of extension actions, since it has now a larger number of people that indirectly socialize the defense of non-obstetric violence. The results of the extension activities can provide a new body of knowledge and experiences adding to the theory seized by the undergraduate students, in addition to allowing the consolidation of public policies in services to women, mainly aimed at reducing obstetric violence, as well as decreasing maternal and infant mortality indexes in the city.