Men don't come! Absence and/or invisibility in primary healthcare services

This article deals with the masculine absence and/or invisibility in primary health-care services and the consequent exclusion of men of the preventive care. The analytical frame is based on the literature that discusses care related to health and masculinity. Methodologically the study uses qualitative analysis of the empirical data (reports) gathered by semi-structured individual interviews of 20 professionals and by two focus groups with 12 workers of the nursing assistants staff of two primary healthcare services of the city of Rio de Janeiro (RJ). Results point out two significant dimensions: the structural and the symbolic one. The structural dimension reveals low investment in the services' organization related to gender perspective approach, reinforcing the common sense that men are not primary healthcare users. The symbolic dimension shows the non consideration of the masculine universe themes as the difficulty men have in revealing themselves to the professional, demanding a special privacy for attendance. Dealing with these questions enhance the possibility of changing practices that are making men invisible to the primary healthcare programs and taking them apart of the self care condition as well as the condition of carriers of others.