Serviço social e saúde animal: contribuições para a área da saúde

Abstract

This thesis brings a new discussion to Social Work, as it deals with the intersection with single health, especially animal health, and the presence of social workers in university veterinary hospitals. It is the result of an exploratory study and the systematization of questions that arose throughout the author's professional career at the University Veterinary Hospital of the Veterinary School of the Federal University of Minas Gerais. The central theme is related not only to health as we are used to dealing with in Social Work, that is, human health and its interfaces, but rather an insertion with animal and environmental health, in an expanded concept, called single health. The objective of the study was based on the need to deepen the understanding of the single health concept, the relationship between Social Services and animal health and to understand the possibilities of approaching the professional action of the social worker. The interest and relevance of the theme of this study are based on the possibilities of interaction and expansion of the debate in the specific field of Social Work and what this new theme represents for the profession, especially based on the significant accumulation that already exists in the area of health . According to the hypothesis formulated, the data collected so far indicate that the university veterinary hospital constitutes a new socio-occupational space for Social Work, with a tendency for growth today. We can consider that the theme of single health/animal health is closely related to the understanding of social demands from the insertion in the socio-occupational space of university veterinary hospitals, which will make it possible to offer a contribution from the area of Social Service to the expansion of this debate. In the search and systematization of information for the construction of this study, we followed the itinerary from three phases or study approach that are absolutely interconnected, namely: the exploratory phase, the data collection phase with the construction of instruments for identification and systematization and the triangulation and data analysis. We also resorted to dialogue with social workers at the veterinary hospitals at Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho (UNESP); from the Federal University of Recôncavo da Bahia (UFRB) and the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA). Therefore, this is an exploratory and unprecedented study in Social Work, which provided the understanding of specificities and unique contributions to the debate on expanding the professional insertion of social workers in animal health. It demonstrated that the use of socioeconomic studies and the form of interdisciplinary action has been a guide for the access of owners and/or guardians of animals to appropriate veterinary treatment. It enabled academic and scientific deepening and, consequently, the understanding of the interfaces that are established between health, single health/animal health and Social Service. It represented an important step in the investigation of some variables that could offer subsidies both in the context of training and professional practice in Social Work. Therefore, this thesis will aim to present initial elements of the relationship established between Social Work and animal health and the determinants regarding the professional practice of social workers in contemporary times.