DEVELOPMENT OF CARE IN A COMPREHENSIVE PERSPECTIVE: ANALYSIS OF THE PRACTICE OF PHYSIOTHERAPISTS IN PRIMARY HEALTH CARE

Abstract

Among the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS)’s principles, integrality is one of the most important, but its implementation has proven to be a complex challenge for the effective SUS consolidation. In this sense, regarding the training of health professionals, the National Curriculum Guidelines (DCN) point to the need for curricular adequacy in the areas of health. Objective: To analyze the understanding and practice of physiotherapists who work in Primary Health Care (PHC) in a city in the interior of the State of São Paulo, Brazil, regarding care from the perspective of integrality. Methods: Field research, with a qualitative and quantitative approach based on the Theory of Social Representations. Fifteen physiotherapists participated, whose data were obtained from four open questions. 15 central ideas emerged, distributed in four representative tables of the central ideas and discourses of the collective subject; in this study, the results and discussions regarding the practice of care by these professionals will be presented from integrality’s perspective. Results: The study found that PHC physiotherapists perform their assistance from the perspective of integrality in their daily lives, favoring active listening and valuing not only physical symptoms, but also emotional ones. In addition, they develop an integral care based on the promotion of patients' autonomy, valuing expanded listening, that is, active listening. Final considerations: Physical therapists have care practices aimed at the entire population; however, although there is a transformation movement, it is still necessary to advance in the training of professionals and in the dissemination of reflections on the theme to improve physical therapy assistance, as recommended by the SUS and the DCN.