A unique way to analyze the realities of health workers within a hermeneutic-dialectic perspective

Abstract

We propose an original method of analysis within a hermeneutic-dialectic framework theoretically supported by the work of Hans-Georg Gadamer, Bertell Ollman, and Maria Cecilia Minayo. We draw a unique means of analysis to guide an understanding of the labor realities for health workers who care for older adults. This method of analysis proposes a way to create consensual opinions, question this consensus and then put these aspects in a dialogical encounter with the qualitative researcher and interpreter. We illustrate the application of this methodological process using dialogical conversations and narrative interviews with 12 health workers from the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS). The hermeneutic-dialectic process of interpretation involves us in movements of comprehension, which allows us to understand realities including the actual sad situation of some territories, creating possibilities for home health care, the integrality of attention as a tool for providing home assistance in the primary care field, and the necessity of a set of services to provide an organizational routine for home visits to older people. This methodological analysis has the potentiality to help develop other research on similar topics. The results illustrate that good home care for older adults requires effective articulation between compassionate workers and public health agencies.