Puerperium Online: interactions of a virtual support group

Abstract

Objectives: due to the accessibility, online support groups have been used as an alternative in the constitution of a support network for women in the puerperium period. Thus, this resource is given relatively a short time of use, the present work sought to present an overview of the virtual group of puerperal women’s interactions. Methods: qualitative and exploratory study that analyzed a virtual group composed of 9 pregnant women’s interactions, predominantly during the puerperium period, users of basic health services in the city of Currais Novos/RN, during the period of January to June 2020. The corpus, duly previously prepared, was submitted to Análise da Classificação Hierárquica Descendente (ACHD) (Analysis of Descending Hierarchical Classification) via IRAMUTEQ software, followed by content analysis, according to Bardin. Results: the ACHD resulted in convergence around three themes, with class 1 - “Puerperium Itinerary”, which represented 56.1% of the elementary context units (ECUs) of the total corpus, being the object of interest in the present study. The main dimensions extracted from this class dealt with difficulties inherent to daily life and demands for support and care during the puerperium period, as well as the limitations inherent to this moment. Conclusions: it was noticed that virtual groups can strengthen the support network necessities to face the difficulties of the puerperium by exchanging experiences.