The Living Woman Research Group began in 2008 in the post-graduate program in nursing at the Nursing School, Federal University of Rio Grande. Its purpose is to integrate teaching, research and outreach. It is led by Dr. Nalú Pereira da Costa Kerber and by Dra Fabiane Ferreira Francioni, nurses and professors at the Nursing School.

The group is composed of interdisciplinary researchers from FURG (Nursing School and Medicine School), IFRS (Federal Institute of South Rio Grande), Municipal Health Services of Rio Grande, RS and University Hospital’s Dr. Miguel Riet Correa, Jr. Researchers from the Nursing Faculty at the Federal University of Pelotas (Pelotas, RS, Brazil) and the Universidad de La Republica (Montevideo, Uruguay) are also members of this group.

The group is involved in knowledge production in the post-graduate nursing program and Master of Health Sciences program.

Its research topics are related to women's health throughout their life cycles; their roles in the social, cultural and work ecosystem; and the child. It views the mother and child as inseparable beings.

Based on these research interests, the group has been developing outreach projects (domiciliary visits to women immediately postpartum and with newborns; groups for pregnant women; low-risk prenatal care; prevention of cervical and breast cancer, etc.), educational projects (tutoring; multiplication of knowledge projects), research initiatives (therapeutic routes for women with abnormal Pap smears; quality of life initiatives for nurses; nurse contributions to the empowerment of women; return to sexual activity postpartum; obstetrics for premature labor, etc.), and training programs. It has developed courses and seminars and has published in scientific journals and participated in scientific events.

Since its inception, the group has had five projects funded by development agencies such as CNPq and FAPERGS. It was also given funding to conduct the events I SIHATON (International Symposium on Humanized Obstetric and Neonatal Care) in Rio Grande in 2010 and II SIHATON, en 2014.

Figure 1.  Participation of the "Research Group Living Woman" in joint action with of Women's Health Program of the City of Rio Grande called "Pink October".