"Oh, a gente está aqui, ninguém solta a mão de ninguém": as atribuições de assistentes sociais na saúde de Parnamirim - RN, em tempos de crise pandêmica

Abstract

This research aims to analyze the duties of social workers in the health sector of Parnamirim, Rio Grande do Norte, in the context of the pandemic crisis. It was developed using the critical dialectical method with a qualitative focus. In this sense, it was constituted as field and exploratory research. We proposed to reflect on the duties of social workers in outpatient and emergency care institutions located in Parnamirim, which played a fundamental role in providing direct assistance to users during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a time frame from 2020 to 2022. We used the data collection technique called semi-structured interviews with the participants, in which qualitative analyses were carried out through content analysis. The interviews were recorded by voice and later transcribed for analysis. Documentary research was also carried out in publicly accessible databases and the analyses were also carried out through content analysis. As a result, we observed that in order to analyze professional attributions, it is necessary to consider them as a dialectical pair with institutional requests. Thus, the theme of professional attributions has acquired relevance in the context of crises in which contradictory elements of affirmation and denial appear. In this contradictory context, some advances were observed in the exercise of professional attributions, such as: achievement of legitimacy, better delimitation of attributions, requests and demands. The research indicates that one of the elements that impact professional attributions is the increase in user demands in the face of the pandemic and the worsening of the Social Issue. In addition to these elements, the conservative and authoritarian tradition of the municipality of Parnamirim and the political direction of the administration interfere in this scenario.