Parenting and public policies: contributions from psychoanalysis and psychodynamics of work
Parenting; Psychoanalysis; Psychodynamics of Work; Public Policies; Educational Training
Parenting implies taking on a caring role for another who is born helpless, and in this relationship, psychic
interplay and social intersections come into play. Therefore, public policies focused on childhood within the
scope of Brazilian public health invest in the training of professionals in the theme of parenting aimed at
vulnerable populations of pregnant women and postpartum women. This work discusses the contributions
of psychoanalysis and psychodynamics of work in a public health policy, in the context of training in the
theme of parenting. The speeches of health professionals were analyzed, who reacted to the themes of inter
and intrafamily violence, social exclusion, idealization, and ambivalences regarding parenthood. Four dif-
ferent workshops were held with eight training groups of health professionals, divided into 32 meetings,
and, based on field diary records, discourse analysis method was carried out in two manuscripts. The first
manuscript, entitled: I. The impacts of violence at work in the field of parenting: challenges for public health,
discussed the challenges of perinatal health work in the face of social intersections in contexts of vulnera-
bility, under the triad of categories "gender," "race," and "class." Consequently, it analyzed the place of
conscious and unconscious psychic transmission and the reproduction of violence between generations, as
well as extramarital violence marked by precarious living conditions. The second manuscript, entitled: II.
The meaning of work in the field of parenting, analyzed the encounter with stories of filiation and ambiva-
lences regarding parenting, highlighting reflections on the meaning of this work, provided by educational
training. The meaning of work revealed itself in the shift from solely biologistic to the dimension of subjec-
tive involvement. The training contributed to promoting, among health professionals, a position of listening
and social and political commitment in their public health care.