Intimate partner violence: women’s experience in Primary Health Care in Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil

The intimate partner violence (IPV) approach is a challenge in Primary Health Care. Studies discuss the professionals’ perspective, but few of them advance as to give women a voice. The objective of this study was to understand these women’s experience with the Primary Health Care provided in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, state of Rio de Janeiro. A qualitative methodology was used, interviewing women in Family Health units with a semistructured survey and a hermeneutic dialectic analysis. Interviews with 21 women showed difficulties to open up about IPV and possibilities of Primary Health Care intervention, identifying the network’s precariousness. Suggestions for approach: creation of groups, empathetic listening, and bonding. The following were highlighted: the work of professionals, such as resilience tutors; the need for network qualification; reinforcement of the role of Community Agents and of the Primary Health Care attributes in these situations.