Men's public health care: a qualitative study in four Brazilian federal states

This study aims to analyze the meanings attributed by male users to the health care provided to them by the primary health care. It also tries to hook up the construction of qualitative indicators of satisfaction with the use of such services by males. For this purpose, a qualitative study was conducted, involving semi-structured interviews with 201 users from four Brazilian federal states. The data has been analyzed under the method of interpretation of meanings inbuilt in hermeneutic-dialectical principles. As for the results, users were asked to point toward criteria to evaluate positively the services, taking as reference a communicative and attentive service, as long as it makes a difference to them as well as bring up readiness. As a conclusion, it was found that male users outlook the services through rose-tinted glasses and therefore claim a particular form of care grounded on that assumption. Moreover, this conclusion could also be used to discuss the health care of women as well. On the other hand, due to the socialization that men and women experience, differences between male and female users could be reinforced. Conversely, regarding to both professionals and users, this gender segmentation may add to bring about the impossibilities of dealing with the specifics of men and women in terms of public health care demands.