Women with breast cancer: strategies for access to health services and social protection mechanisms

Abstract

This paper examines the social protection strategies adopted by women with breast cancer to access health and social care systems. A qualitative research was made and the data were collected through semi-structured interviews performed with ten women diagnosed with breast cancer. The thematic content analysis was used, by emphasizing three central dimensions: (a) access to health services; (b) social support network; and (c) provision and use of social programs and policies. The results point to difficulties in accessing health services, focusing on the prognosis and the chances of cure. In relation to social policies, the sickness benefit was the resource commonly used by women, being restricted to the Social Security taxpayers. In the lack of public policies, the family constitutes the main social protection network available to women, but with important limits in terms of its protective capacity. These issues need to be considered in the search for a guarantee of the right to health as an integral part of the achievement of social rights in Brazil.