M.Cur. / Who am I? What am I doing here? What is the purpose of life? What is real? Individuals are intent on trying to find an answer to their questions about life, yet many may find that they remain in a quagmire of confusion and vacillating inner torment. In their own lives many individuals deal with pain, guilt and death, each having their own share of suffering where they may either withdraw into their own world or attempt to take from it whatever bit of happiness and pleasure they can, which often leaves them with a feeling of emptiness, futility and despair. What is it aU for? What is life about? According to what Waltos and Waltos (2002:16) have termed "a conscious revolution", individuals have entered an age of responsibility and empowerment. In both human life and healthcare this translates to individuals being more willing to take charge of their lives as well as responsibility for their overall health. Frankl (1984:15) posits mental health and stability to be dependent upon an individual's ability to perceive meaning. This quest for meaning is one of the greatest challenges facing individuals, families and nations (Wong & Fry, 1998:406). At certain points in life, everyone has questioned what sustains their being and what makes life worth living. With a focus on the family, the researcher to this study noticed that the first crack in many famUy structures developed during pregnancy, birth and parenthood due to an inability of the parents to communicate their differing views and perspectives of their reality. Consequently, this resulted in self-expression becoming compromised and inhibited, resulting in inner confusion and turmoil. Parenthood also brings about personal challenges of coping and making meaning out of life circumstances. This breakdown in relationships impacts on individuals' and families' ability to develop and grow holistically, with consequent negative ripple effects on family dynamics and structure. Such discord and disharmony further cascades out to include community and the work environment.

The purpose of this dissertation was to identify the components of women's domestic health work in networks surrounding poor Mexican American and Anglo households and compare women's experiences as domestic health workers. Women representing 10 Mexican American households and 10 Anglo households and their surrounding domestic networks were recruited for this study. Criteria for participation included the presence of at least one child in the household $\le$5 years of age and household income at or below the federally-defined weighted poverty threshold. Sources included, first, 66 interviews with women (n = 26) residing in the study households. Second, women kept 3-week daily health diaries on behalf of all household members. And third, women participated in an inventory of household medications. The study employed several analytic methods, including descriptive statistical analyses, phenomenological insight, taxonomic analyses of women's knowledge structures, life history analysis, thematic analysis, and narrative analyses. The results of the study emphasized several points, including the: (a) gendered but hotly contested nature of domestic responsibility for health, with responsibility negotiated between men and women in households, and disputed between households and social service agencies; (b) significant role played by women's informal networks in defining and evaluating the enactment of maternal responsibility; (c) workings of women's coalitions and cooperatives that protect women's threatened interests and redistribute resources among women; (d) influences governing the transmission of child health and illness knowledge and skills across generations of women; (e) double-edged nature of self-medication that appears as both a source of female autonomy and expertise, yet paradoxically and simultaneously can act as an inappropriate, self-palliating balm for the hurt incurred from inadequate accessibility to quality professional health care for poor women and children; and (f) cross-cutting influences of ethnicity and historical situation in each of the above domains. Women pieced together resources from their cultural background, femaleness, and sometimes their poverty; all these factors also entailed contradictory disadvantages in the production of household health. The health and social policy implications of this study were described in detail in the dissertation, as were the women's own visions for an approximation of utopia.

Orientador: Dagmar de Paula Queluz / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Odontologia de Piracicaba / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-07T06:20:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Ceravolo_MariaCristinaSilveira_M.pdf: 911520 bytes, checksum: 64fb6ba147916a93d8485144d36b63fa (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006 / Resumo: O objetivo deste estudo é verificar o perfil do cirurgião-dentista, inserido nas equipes de referência do Programa Paidéia Saúde da Família na cidade de Campinas, implementado no ano de 2001, ancorado nas diretrizes do Programa de Saúde da Família, visando a complementaridade das ações no sistema de saúde. O Paidéia se mostra, buscando inovações norteadas pela necessidade de rupturas com o processo de trabalho em saúde que visam a integralidade do indivíduo. Um estudo qualitativo e quantitativo, focando 47 Unidades Básicas de Saúde, distribuídas nos 5 distritos de saúde de Campinas, onde se desenvolveu um estudo transversal através da aplicação de questionários com perguntas abertas e estruturadas em 200 cirurgiões-dentistas, com retorno de 121 questionários, sendo 76 (62,8%) do gênero feminino e 45 (37,2%) do gênero masculino; 109 (90,1%) foram contratados através de concurso público; 107 (88,4%) relataram que adotam critérios de risco em saúde bucal; 92 (76,0%) e percebem a importância na mudança assistencial; 65 (53,7%) consideraram as reuniões de equipe de referência muito importante; 87 (71,9%) responderam que estas reuniões são semanais; 47 (38,8%) consideraram a possibilidade de estabelecer vínculo com os familiares dos usuários; 55 (45,5%) realizavam visitas domiciliares; 17 (14,0%) são membros do núcleo de saúde coletiva; 12 (9,9%) participavam das reuniões do conselho local, e 58,7% tem curso de especialização, onde 29,8% são especialistas em Saúde Coletiva; a jornada de trabalho com carga horária irregular(36 horas) talvez seja o dificultador de firmar vínculo com famílias e usuários, como também estabelecer a integração com as equipes multidisciplinares / Abstract: The objective of this study is to verify the profile of the dental surgeon in multidisciplinary teams of the Paidéia Health Services Program in the municipality of Campinas, State of São Paulo, Brazil. Created in 2001, within the policies of the nationwide Family Health Program, the Paideia should produce a complementary effort within the local public heath system, innovating the relationships between patient and health provider and among the team members themselves. It is understood that these innovations place the emphasis on a holistic view of the individual and arise from the necessity of a break with past ways of viewing public health. A qualitative and quantitative study was produced, focusing on 47 Fundamental Health Units distributed in five districts in Campinas: a transversal study on the basis of a survey with open and closed questions was distributed to 200 dental surgeons, of which 121 actually filled out the questionnaire, 76 (62.8%) females and 45 (37.2%) males. 109 (90.1 %) had been hired by the system on the basis of competitive examination. 107 (88.4%) related the adoption of risk criteria for dental health. 92 (76.0%) understand the importance of the change that has taken place in assistential relationships; 65 (53.7%) hold the view that meetings of the multidisciplinary team are of the utmost importance. 87 (71.9%) responded that these meetings are weekly; 47 (38.8%) have considered the possibility of establishing a connection to the family members of the patients. 55 (45.5%) make house calls. 17 (14.0%) are members of a health collective; 12 (9.9%) participate in meetings of the local council; 58,7 are specialists where 29,8 are Public Health specialists. This study also concluded that irregularities in work schedules among part time and full time staff (36 hours) worked against the connection with families and patients, or making integration with the multidisciplinary teams more difficult to establish / Mestrado / Mestre em Odontologia em Saúde