“I FEEL VERY WELL”: the effects of Integrative and Complementary Practices in the care of people with obesity

Abstract The scope of this study was to understand the effects resulting from Integrative and Complementary Practices (ICPs) in the treatment of people with obesity cared for at a state center of reference of the Brazilian Unified Health System, based on the reports of users. Qualitative exploratory-descriptive methodology was used, employing semi-structured interviews as a technique for data production. The empirical universe was composed of eight male and female members in the adult age group, with a medical diagnosis of obesity and being monitored at the ICP Outpatient Clinic. Feeling well was observed as a significant and pivotal sensation for the ongoing experience in the ICPs, resulting from the therapy, materialized in the different effects produced by the practices and bringing about a reorganization of the subject’s life, the care of oneself and of others. It was possible to observe that the organic presence of the ICPs assumes a hybrid and dynamic place in the process of care, although a perspective has emerged that links the ICPs to obesity through the control of anxiety, the body, and food. Furthermore, the ICPs seem to collaborate with the displacement of the focus of body weight management to the person as a whole, also acting as mediators in the process of body acceptance.