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This paper reflects on the experiences of women regarding childbirth care in a public maternity hospital in Porto Alegre-RS. It adopts a human rights perspective, understanding humanization as a broad guarantee of women's rights to a safe, socially supported and pleasurable parturition. This is an exploratory qualitative study, using participant observation techniques, semistructured interviews and documentary research. Twenty-five postpartum women, aged between 18 and 38, took part in the study. Participant reports and field records were examined through Discourse Analysis. As a result, it was identified a fragmented nature of the practices considered as "humanizing", linked to protocols of procedures in the management of childbirth and often linked to inflexibility regarding these protocols. The overrating of interventionist technologies/ practices in women's body, as well as the hierarchies between professionals and users appeared in the reports and the observations. Subjective experiences of motherhood seemed not to be considered and were left on the margins of care. It was identified specific modes of obstetric violence experienced by grassroots women, which are trivialized by the women themselves in accordance with what they expected from a public service. These situations reinforce reproductive hierarchies and end up leaving these pregnant women "on the fringes of humanization". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate parent's perception over their children with cerebral palsy (CP) facing the diagnosis and physiotherapeutic approach. Materials and Methods: An exploratory observational study of cases was performed. The research was conducted at an institution of physical rehabilitation and social inclusion from Canoas city, Rio Grande do Sul, between the months of January and February 2012. Ten parents have been included, chosen by convenience, whose children receive care at the Institution's physical therapy unit. The data collected were organized and categorized, allowing the interpretation according to the content analysis of Bardin. Results: Nine mothers and one father have participated in this research, with a mean age of 35 years and 4 months. It was found that the parents changed their perception over the diagnosis in relation to the moment it was reported compared to the current time, varying from uncertainties and little understanding to a stage of acceptance and enlightenment. There was a delay in the diagnosis confirmation, as well as in the referral to physiotherapy. The physiotherapeutic approach was seen as an essential step for the child's development and it was identified progress after the start of the treatment. Participants declared to receive and to make the orientations provided by the physiotherapist. Conclusions: The parents' perception regarding the diagnosis is formed as the child starts treatment and receives professional support, added to her own development. Regarding the perception about the physical therapy, it was observed that when parents received a referral for physical therapy, they showed more positive expectations over their child's life, mainly regarding motor condition improvements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]