GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE AND THE ROLE OF NURSING

Abstract

Violence against women is a historical, structural, and multifaceted phenomenon deeply rooted in gender, socioeconomic, and cultural inequalities, with serious consequences for the physical, mental, and social health of victims. This study aimed to analyze the profile of victims and aggressors, the locations of occurrence, and the role of nurses in the reception, documentation, and referral of women in situations of violence treated at the Clinical Hospital of the Federal University of Uberlândia (HC-UFU). This is a quantitative, retrospective, and exploratory study based on 89 individual notification forms from the Notifiable Diseases Information System (SINAN), referring to the year 2023. The results showed that the predominant profile of victims consists of young adult women, mostly mixed-race or white, with average levels of schooling and employment in low-income occupations, with financial dependence identified as a central factor in maintaining the cycle of violence. Aggressions occurred predominantly in the domestic environment, perpetrated by individuals within the victims' close social circle, with sexism as the main motivation and suspected alcohol use in more than half of the cases. The analysis also revealed significant failures in completing notification forms, especially in the fields of race/ethnicity and motivation for aggression, compromising the quality of epidemiological data. Nurses proved to be the primary reception agents within the care network, and their continuous training and intersectoral action are essential for comprehensive care and effective confrontation of gender-based violence. It is concluded that overcoming this phenomenon requires integrated actions that connect health, social assistance, public security, education, and public policies guided by reliable data.