[Group consultation: a space for women].

This experience took place in a Medical Center, in Rio de Janeiro, in 1988. The group responsible for it included a social worker, a nutritionist, a nurse and a gynecologist. The aims were: to offer better health care; to discuss the importance, the results and the appropriate therapies of the Pap smear; to offer women an opportunity to meet and discuss their problems, experiences, desires, expectations; and to offer to the health professionals the opportunity to re-think their own practices. The methodology used was characterized by making appointments for a medical exam subsequent to a Pap smear; evaluation of each Pap smear result and its appropriate treatment, previous to the group consultation; group discussion about the Pap smear results; and about themes brought up by women clients. The main results were: an increase of 42.7% in the number of women who went for their first medical exam; an increase of ten minutes in the length of each medical exam; better screening for syphilis and gonorrhea, better quality of health care within the perspective of women as integral beings (greater appreciation of a woman s own experiences, be it in terms of her complaints and problems be it in her evaluation of the medical care system). This kind of consultation is of rather recent date and if it becomes more wide-spread it could result in an increase in the number and quality of the medical exam.