Homens, masculinidade e violência: estudo em serviços de atenção primária à saúde

Abstract

There are few studies on men dealing with violence as a non-fatal event. As a contribution, the prevalences of psychological, physical and/or sexual violence suffered by men and the perpetrated intimate partner violence (IPV) are described. This was a cross-sectional study on 789 men aged 18 to 60 years, of whom 775 ever partnered. Men were selected in order of arrival at two primary healthcare clinics in the city of São Paulo. Sociodemographic characteristics and reported violence were investigated, along with the violence overlapping and perceptions of having suffered or perpetrated violence. The lifetime prevalence of suffered violence was 79% for any type and any aggressor; 63.9%, 52.8% and 6.1% respectively for psychological, physical and sexual violence. For lifetime IPV, the rates were 52.1% for any type and 40%, 31.9% and 3.9% respectively for psychological, physical and sexual violence. For both suffered and perpetrated violence, the psychological type had the highest exclusive rate, followed by physical. Acquaintances were the main aggressors, followed by family members, strangers and female intimate partners. Between suffering and perpetrating IPV, 14.2% of the cases overlapped and 81.2% consisted only of perpetrated violence. It was concluded that although in relation to intimate partner violence, men suffered much less than they perpetrated, the data showed that they were involved in many situations of violence of large magnitude and overlapping situations, both as victims and as aggressors, thus echoing studies on masculinity. This complex set of situations should also be taken into consideration in primary healthcare services.

Violência e sofrimento mental em homens na atenção primária à saúde

“…The lack of a link between purely psychological abuse may be explained by the low prevalence of any of the types of violence studied (psychological, physical and/or sexual) occurring in isolation). Schraiber et al 19 indicate that the types of violence occur simultaneously in men, with high proportions of overlap, especially of psychological and physical types of violence.…”

“…That larger study aimed to estimate the prevalence of intimate partner violence against women from the male perspective, but it also produced data which could be used in other studies of the male population. A descriptive study on the prevalence and type of violence experienced by men, as well as details of the methodology used in the abovementioned research, were published by Schraiber et al 19 There were 477 records of data collected using three instruments: a questionnaire carried out by a male interviewer and two standardized forms for gathering information from medical records.…”

“…19 The questions were: for psychological violence: "Has anyone ever (in the street, in a bar, at work or at home) insulted or belittled you or made you feel worthless? "; for physical violence: "Has anyone ever (in the street, in a bar, at work or at home) physical assaulted you (slaps, pushes, punches, kicks etc.)?…”

Patterns of changes in men's health from demographic indicators and epidemiologic

“…In the study of Schraiber et al 11 about men, masculinity and violence, held in primary health care services, was evaluated the non-fatal violence suffered and perpetrated by men, considering simultaneously the relationships of conjugality or partnership and other private and public space. From this evaluation, there were high rates of violence in the population researched and the a big amount of users within the health services, especially in primary care, which constitute cases of violence suffered or cases of male aggressors.…”

“…They are people with some difficulty, with great difficulty or inability to see, to hear, to move or with mental disabilities. Of the total of people with disabilities (46.42%), a minority represents the male population (11,420,544 Another recurrent theme in the study on men´s health is the risk and sexual and reproductive health, which was also used as a parameter for the construction of NPICMH.…”