USER EMBRACEMENT AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF CARE IN PRIMARY HEALTH CARE: BONDING, QUALIFIED ACCESS AND RESOLUTIVENESS IN THE SUS

Abstract

This chapter critically analyzes user embracement in Primary Health Care as a mechanism for transforming the care model within the Brazilian Unified Health System, with emphasis on its contribution to bonding and resolutiveness. It is a theoretical study derived from an integrative literature review, with a qualitative approach and descriptive-analytical character, based on scientific publications and institutional documents addressing user embracement, bonding, access, humanization, resolutiveness, and the organization of work processes in PHC. The analysis assumes that user embracement cannot be reduced to administrative reception or demand screening, but should be understood as a relational technology and an ethical-political arrangement oriented toward qualified listening, recognition of health needs, and institutional accountability for constructing possible responses. The findings indicate that, when structurally incorporated into the daily routine of health teams, user embracement expands qualified access, strengthens longitudinality, fosters trust between users and professionals, improves the clinical encounter, and enhances care coordination. On the other hand, its transformative potential is constrained by underfunding, precarious working conditions, professional turnover, organizational rigidity, and weaknesses in the health care network. It is concluded that user embracement is a structuring axis for a more humane, comprehensive, and socially responsive PHC, provided that it is linked to the reorganization of work processes, appreciation of health teams, and strengthening of the care network.