Clinical Ethnographic Narrative Interview About the Experience of Women Discharged From the Prison System

Abstract

Objectives to analyze the perception of women discharged from the prison system about the main stressors that marked their life trajectories and to discuss the feasibility of the Clinical Ethnographic Narrative Interview technique to facilitate the narrative of this group. Method narrative research developed in a social protection center in the interior of São Paulo. Data were collected in 2021 (January and February) using the Clinical Ethnographic Narrative Interview technique, which intersperses narratives and visual aids. The synergy between the concepts of vulnerability and stress was adopted as a theoretical framework, and content analysis was performed. The discussion of viability was based on the criteria of acceptability and expansion. Results The narratives addressed psychosocial difficulties prior to incarceration and the hostile environment of the overcrowded prison as a place of conflict and abuse of power. Family helplessness, estrangement from children, negative emotions, somatic symptoms and traumas were mentioned as consequences of seclusion. The participants also reported coping processes with words that referred to the ideas of overcoming, hope, new beginning and gratitude. It is understood that this high point of the narratives may reflect the potential of the interview technique and corroborates its adequacy. Conclusion The undoubted painful character of the narratives about the different adversities experienced, especially as a result of seclusion, was also permeated by aspects that denoted resilient processes. The adoption of this interview technique made data collection more sensitive, welcoming and timely to expand the repertoire of words in the expression of feelings and revisit painful experiences, envisioning positive possibilities for the future.