[Quality of health-care according to social actors' frameworks of meaning in Colombia and Brazil].

OBJECTIVE

To analyse social actors' frameworks of meaning regarding the definition of health-care quality in Colombia and Brazil.

METHOD

This was a descriptive, interpretative, qualitative study which used focus-groups and individual indepth interviews in two municipalities in Colombia and Brazil. The following social actors were theoretical sampled to represent the variety of views: users and leaders, health-care personnel and policy-makers. Content was analysed with mixed generation of categories and segmentation by country, actors and themes.

RESULTS

The frameworks of meaning regarding health-care quality for users and health personnel in both countries revealed coincidences concerning three main topics: structural suitability, technical level and humanisation of care. However, they had differentiated meanings; users from both countries highlighted structural and organisational aspects, together with technical aspects such as resolution level and quality of care. Colombian and Brazilian health-care personnel shared some views but whilst the former highlighted non-bureaucratic and consultation time, the latter singled out the availability of specialised personnel, materials and equipment. Policy-makers' framework of meanings emerge from the legal framework.

CONCLUSIONS

Features provided by the social actors' frameworks of meaning indicated the need to take them all into consideration as they all pointed out different system weaknesses. They also showed that users valued technical quality more than is generally considered.