title: Filling out the compulsory notification in health services that care for women who suffer from sexual violence.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the proportion of health services that fill out the compulsory notification and what the main difficulties to fill it out are.
  
  
  METHODS
  A study was carried out with two different approaches. For the quantitative approach, a cross sectional study was performed, with telephone data collection. In the state of São Paulo, 291 health services that had reported providing care to women who suffer from sexual violence were identified. The sample was composed of 172 services that reported providing emergency care to women. In the qualitative approach, case studies were conducted. Six cities were chosen by intention and convenience. For each of them, professionals from two health services were invited to participate. Forty-five semi-structured interviews were conducted. For quantitative data, a descriptive analysis was carried out. For qualitative data, a thematic analysis of content was performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The proportion of health services which reported always filling out the notification in cases of sexual violence was 79.1%. More than half (53.5%) reported difficulties concerning the assisted women, one third reported reasons related to the form, and 29.7%, to the professionals. In the qualitative approach, the main difficulties were the size of the form, the problems to obtain the information about the woman and the difficulty for the professional to obtain this information.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although most health services claimed to fill out the compulsory notification, they also mentioned several difficulties to do so, especially with regard to the workload of professionals and the misunderstanding about the importance of the notification in the context of comprehensive care to women who suffer from sexual violence.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the proportion of health services that fill out the compulsory notification and what the main difficulties to fill it out are.
  
  
  METHODS
  A study was carried out with two different approaches. For the quantitative approach, a cross sectional study was performed, with telephone data collection. In the state of São Paulo, 291 health services that had reported providing care to women who suffer from sexual violence were identified. The sample was composed of 172 services that reported providing emergency care to women. In the qualitative approach, case studies were conducted. Six cities were chosen by intention and convenience. For each of them, professionals from two health services were invited to participate. Forty-five semi-structured interviews were conducted. For quantitative data, a descriptive analysis was carried out. For qualitative data, a thematic analysis of content was performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The proportion of health services which reported always filling out the notification in cases of sexual violence was 79.1%. More than half (53.5%) reported difficulties concerning the assisted women, one third reported reasons related to the form, and 29.7%, to the professionals. In the qualitative approach, the main difficulties were the size of the form, the problems to obtain the information about the woman and the difficulty for the professional to obtain this information.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although most health services claimed to fill out the compulsory notification, they also mentioned several difficulties to do so, especially with regard to the workload of professionals and the misunderstanding about the importance of the notification in the context of comprehensive care to women who suffer from sexual violence.
authors: Departamento de Pesquisa Social, Centro de Pesquisas em Saúde Reprodutiva de Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brasil.
authors: Maria Helena
authors: MH
authors: de Sousa
authors: Departamento de Pesquisa Social, Centro de Pesquisas em Saúde Reprodutiva de Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brasil.
authors: Silvana Ferreira
authors: SF
authors: Bento
authors: Departamento de Pesquisa Social, Centro de Pesquisas em Saúde Reprodutiva de Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brasil.
authors: Maria José Duarte
authors: MJ
authors: Osis
authors: Departamento de Pesquisa Social, Centro de Pesquisas em Saúde Reprodutiva de Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brasil.
authors: Meire de Paula
authors: Mde P
authors: Ribeiro
authors: Departamento de Pesquisa Social, Centro de Pesquisas em Saúde Reprodutiva de Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brasil.
authors: Anibal
authors: A
authors: Faúndes
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006296:Health Services; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D012742:Sex Offenses / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires