Jorge Alberto Bernstein Iriart

Musculação, uso de esteróides anabolizantes e percepção de risco entre jovens fisiculturistas de um bairro popular de Salvador, Bahia, Brasil

Recent studies in different countries have shown an increase in anabolic steroid consumption among young people and the harm caused by indiscriminate use. In Brazil, research on steroid abuse is scarce. The present study examines the risk perception of health problems associated with anabolic steroid consumption among young working-class adults engaged in body-building practices in a poor neighborhood in the city of Salvador, Bahia. The methodology involved an anthropological approach based on qualitative research techniques consisting of ethnography, in-depth interviews, and a focus group with steroid users. The data describe the most common substances consumed and highlight the lack of information among interviewees concerning potential related health hazards, showing that for many steroid consumers the quest for muscle-mass development to achieve an idealized body supersedes the risk of harmful side effects. The results indicate the need for culturally sensitive measures to prevent steroid abuse among youth.Estudos recentes em diferentes paises tem apontado o aumento do consumo de esteroides anabolizantes entre jovens fisiculturistas e atletas, e os danos a saude causados pelo seu uso indiscriminado. No Brasil, estudos sobre o uso de anabolizantes sao escassos. No presente trabalho, examina-se a percepcao de risco a saude, associada ao consumo de anabolizantes, entre jovens fisiculturistas de um bairro pobre da cidade de Salvador. A metodologia privilegiou metodos de coleta de dados qualitativos tais como etnografia, entrevistas semi-estruturadas e grupo focal com usuarios de anabolizantes. Os dados produzidos descrevem as principais substâncias utilizadas e os padroes de uso, e apontam a falta de informacao dos jovens entrevistados sobre a extensao dos danos a saude decorrentes do consumo de anabolizantes, mostrando que para muitos, o desejo de desenvolver massa muscular e alcancar o corpo ideal se sobrepoe ao risco de efeitos colaterais. Os resultados indicam a necessidade de se desenvolver acoes culturalmente apropriadas, voltadas para a prevencao do abuso de anabolizantes junto a essa populacao.

Representações do trabalho informal e dos riscos à saúde entre trabalhadoras domésticas e trabalhadores da construção civil

During the past few decades, the Brazilian labor market has been characterized by an increase of unregistered workers, earning lower wages, not covered by social insurance or occupational risk prevention programs. This study describes the representations and perceptions about informal work contracts and job-related health risks, analyzed in a group of injured unregistered workers. This was a qualitative study based on in-depth interviews carried out with seventeen laborers, nine housemaids and eight construction workers. The findings indicate that workers recognize the importance of formal jobs, mainly because of legal guarantees of labor rights, mentioning the symbolic downgrading of informal jobs that undermines their self-esteem. Both work groups tended to minimize occupational health risks in the work environment, and did not recognize associations between informal job contracts and occupational accidents or diseases. It was clear that workers want to have job contracts. The findings of the study demonstrate the need for broader dissemination and discussion about labor rights and the construction of public policies that encompass health and safety programs for these workers.

Representações do trabalho entre trabalhadores informais da construção civil

The social representation of work among irregular construction workers is analyzed. The Social Representation Theory has been employed as a theoretical framework for current investigation. Due to the complexity of the research problem, multiple techniques of data collection were used, comprising in-depth interviews with eight workers and participants’ observation. Results show that work is a main factor within the worker’s life, basic to social and material survival. Although, construction labor was described as heavy and downgrading, it seems to be the “latest resource” for survival. The workers recognize the precariousness generated by irregularity since they feel inferior to formal workers. This situation denotes that construction workers experience a kind of violence that leaves them out of assured constitutional rights and full citizenship.

Homeopatia no Sistema Unico de Saúde: representações dos usuários sobre o tratamento homeopático

Apesar de ter sido oficialmente introduzida no Brasil em 1840, a homeopatia so foi reconhecida pelo Conselho Federal de Medicina como uma especialidade medica em 1980. Sua presenca no Sistema Unico de Saude (SUS) ainda e reduzida, existindo poucas experiencias de servicos de homeopatia em nao muitos municipios brasileiros. Este estudo tem como objetivo conhecer as representacoes dos usuarios do SUS sobre a homeopatia. A metodologia da pesquisa foi qualitativa, tendo sido realizado um estudo de caso em uma unidade de saude em Salvador, Bahia. Para a coleta de dados, foram aplicados 112 questionarios aos usuarios do servico de homeopatia na unidade selecionada, com os quais foram realizadas 19 entrevistas em profundidade. Os resultados do estudo mostraram que a principal motivacao para a procura da homeopatia foi o insucesso do tratamento alopatico anterior. A perspectiva holistica, o uso de medicamentos naturais, o tempo longo da consulta e a escuta atenta do paciente foram trazidos como caracteristicas diferenciais positivas na comparacao com o tratamento alopatico. Os resultados apontaram para o potencial ainda pouco explorado da contribuicao de alternativas terapeuticas como a homeopatia, no SUS.

Significados e práticas de saúde e doença entre a população em situação de rua em Salvador, Bahia, Brasil

This article aimed to analyze the practices and meanings associated with health and illness among homeless people in Salvador, Bahia State, Brazil. A qualitative anthropological study was conducted with participant observation and semi-structured interviews with 13 subjects 30 to 66 years of age. The results point to extremely precarious living and health conditions among the homeless. The narratives emphasize frequent violence. The main health problems were substance abuse, HIV/AIDS, mental disorders, and dental, dermatological, and gastrointestinal problems. Among other meanings, health was associated with the capacity to cope with everyday difficulties. Meanwhile, illness was identified as a state of weakness that hindered the struggle for survival. Homeless people only turned to health services when their health problems were serious and urgent. In conclusion, the study showed the need for specific policies to improve living conditions and access to healthcare for this population.

Emprego em serviços domésticos e acidentes de trabalho não fatais

OBJECTIVE To estimate the annual incidence of non-fatal work injuries according to sociodemographic and occupational variables among housemaids. METHODS A community-based survey was conducted in a population of 1,650 women aged 10 to 65 years who reported a paid occupation randomly selected in a household sample of the city of Salvador, Brazil. Data was collected through individual questionnaires on living and work conditions and health status. Fisher Exact test was performed for frequency analysis. RESULTS It was estimated an overall annual incidence of non-fatal work injuries in the study population of 5.0%, which was statistically significant (p<0.05) higher among housemaids (7.3%) than in the group with other occupations (4.5%). Half of the injuries among housemaids were not related with long-term disabilities, and 38.1% women referred not being able to work for two weeks on average after the injury. CONCLUSIONS Housemaids represent a major contingent of the work force in Brazil and other Latin America countries. The high incidence of non-fatal work injuries in this working group reveals its public health relevance and the need for preventive programs.

Meanings and practices related to HIV risk according to the sexual scripts of women from a low-income neighborhood in Salvador, Bahia State, Brazil

A growing number of studies have connected sexuality, gender, and power to discuss the increasing spread of HIV in women, but the epidemic still poses significant theoretical and programmatic challenges. The current study focuses on how cultural codes underlying sexual experience are manifested in womens subjectivity and orient their interpretations and practices related to the risk of HIV infection. In-depth interviews with 15 women ranging from 18 to 30 years of age led to the reconstitution of three life histories, focusing on their sexual scripts The data were organized using the Nud-Ist software and submitted to hermeneutic analysis. The meanings and practices associated with HIV risk vary according to the moment in life, the sociability network, and the type of bond established with the partner. The findings point to the need to understand the shared sexual meanings in specific contexts, in order to develop more culturally sensitive prevention programs.

Aconselhamento em DST/Aids às gestantes que realizaram o teste anti-HIV na admissão para o parto: os sentidos de uma prática

Foram analisadas as praticas e os sentidos do aconselhamento para gestantes submetidas ao teste anti-HIV na admissao para o parto, e para profissionais de saude que atuam na assistencia a maternidade em Salvador, Brasil. Foi realizado um estudo qualitativo em uma maternidade, com observacao participante e entrevistas semiestruturadas com 13 puerperas sem diagnostico previo para o HIV e sete profissionais de saude. Observou-se que o exame anti-HIV e realizado de forma compulsoria, sem considerar a autonomia da gestante, e que o aconselhamento se limita a informar o diagnostico e dar orientacoes no pos-teste somente aquelas cujos resultados foram positivos. Os sentidos que permeiam o exame, assim como o entendimento da experiencia e os significados construidos pelas puerperas, sobretudo quando se descobrem positivas para o HIV, nao sao abordados pelos profissionais, que nao se sentem capacitados para acolherem a subjetividade das pacientes.

A utilização de serviços de saúde por acidentados de trabalho

This study describes the characteristics of health services utilization by workers reporting work-related injuries. Data comes from the three first phases of a community-based cohort study about health and work that started in the year 2000, carried out with all workers from 2,512 families living in the city of Salvador, Bahia, that were selected by one-stage cluster area random sampling. Individual interviews were used for data collection. In this study, cases of work injuries reported during the 12 months before the interview (n=628) are analyzed. The majority (71.0%) of injured workers received medical treatment in facilities from the Unified Health System, SUS, a public health care system of universal coverage. Around 15% received treatment from private health insurance plans. Among SUS customers most workers have no formal job contracts, although insured workers also utilized public health care services. In sum, the SUS has expressive participation in the health care of injured workers independently of their entitlement for private health care.

Novos objetos e novos desafios para a antropologia da saúde na contemporaneidade

O objetivo deste artigo e tecer uma reflexao sobre os objetos emergentes e os desafios teorico-metodologicos e eticos que se apresentam para a antropologia da saude na contemporaneidade, abordando dois temas em particular: os desafios suscitados pelos avancos da biologia molecular, biotecnologias e medicina preditiva, e a analise da saude e da doenca no contexto de globalizacao. A antropologia da saude nos parece chamada a se expandir nos proximos anos em redes tematicas ao redor desses dois grandes eixos centrais: por um lado, as novas definicoes da doenca e da saude associadas aos avancos das ciencias da vida e a forma como o corpo humano e construido, transformado e redefinido como locus da gestao do risco e da incerteza; por outro, o contexto cada vez mais complexo, globalizado e desigual em que estamos vivendo tornam necessaria uma abordagem antropologica igualmente mais global, no qual o processo saude-doenca deve ser analisado, cada vez mais dentro de um conjunto complexo de politicas economicas, de relacoes internacionais e de mobilidade de populacoes, atraves de novas abordagens de pesquisa de natureza transdisciplinar.