A reforma psiquiátrica e a política de saúde mental do Rio Grande do Norte: papéis e funções de profissionais e gestores

This study arose from an interest in knowing the reality of mental health care in Rio Grande do Norte (RN) on the advances and challenges in the intersectoral agreements paths and consolidation of the Psychosocial Care Network (RAPS) from the state. Considering problematic and concerns were defined as objectives: Identify the knowledge of managers of Rio Grande do Norte on the National Mental Health Policy (PNSM) in the RN State; Describe the activities developed by health professionals in the individual service offered in the CAPS from RN; Understanding the relationship of managers’ knowledge on national mental health policy in professionals’ practice working in the the CAPS from the countryside. It is a descriptive study with a quantitative and qualitative approach, carried out in 30 CAPS from RN’s countryside, where 183 professionals answered a structured questionnaire with closed questions about the activities they do in individual care; and 19 mental health coordinators of municipalities and the state coordinator of RAPS were interviewed about their knowledge on the Mental Health Policy. Data were collected after approval by the Research Ethics Committee of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, with the number 508.430 CAAE: 25851913.7.0000.5537 from August through October of 2014 in 26 municipalities with CAPS from the state. Quantitative data were tabulated and analyzed using a descriptive statistics aided by the software Statistical Package for the Social Scienses (SPSS) version 20.0. The qualitative data were prepared in a corpus and analyzed through software Analyse Lexicale par Contexte d’um Ensemble de Segments de Texte (ALCESTE) that allow to perform textual statistical analysis and categorization from their comments, submitted to Bardin content analysis. Five categories were generated approaching the managers’ knowledge, namely: Back to society: leadership and users’ role and autonomy; The gap between policy and practice; Barriers that affect the service; Structuring the Psychosocial Care Network; Multidisciplinary team: attribuitios and activities. The CAPS professionals’ ages ranged from 20 to 58 years, prevailing females, with 76.5% of the total, the majority were social workers (16.8%), psychologists (15.3%), nurses (14.8%) and nursing technicians (14.8%). The results showed precariousness in care associated with physical workload regard to high workload and low wages of the CAPS professionals' and, also, it was possible to observe a large involvement of professionals in care delivery, despite the difficulties encountered in services. It was found little knowledge in managers regarding the National Mental Health Policy having as causes of this reality the poor education and training of these professionals. The responses of professionals working in care reveals strong consistency with what is expected of a psychosocial care service. Points up as a thesis of this study that the psychiatric reform and mental health policy in Rio Grande do Norte is following a structural expansion process, but with precariousness of services from a still unprepared management to act in a psychosocial context.

Matriciamento em saúde mental: atuação de núcleos de apoio à saúde da família

In the context of break with psychiatric hospitals, the Brazilian Psychiatric Reform is a historical process of reformulation of knowledge and mental health practices. In this way, the Centers of Support for Family Health (NASF) have been acting in the supply of matrix support in mental health. So, the present research aims to analyze the actions which the NASF is taking for the matrix support in mental health in the city of Natal/RN. This is a kind of research descriptive, exploratory and qualitative. The data collection, was made by a direct observation of the professional pratices and semi-structured interviews with health professionals NASF's. The Data were analyzed according to thematic analysis technique, with the support of the content analysis method, which is a way to investigate clusters of meanings which make up the communication of the investigated object. Three analytical categories were organized by this method, whose titles were inspired in two theories in the health field called “Health to Paidéia” and “Expanded Clinic”. The name of the categories are: 1. “Mental illness in brackets: working dimensions of the Centers of Support for Family Health interfaces with the concrete subject”, which is about the work process of NASF; 2. “Freedom and engagement in the arrangement of matrix support in mental health”, which explore the matrix support limitations in mental health in Natal/RN from the professionals interviewed at the NASF’s; 3. “Between the desire and interest: influence of expert orientation in mental health in Psychosocial Care Network” (RAPS), which is related to matrix support in mental health, as an organizational arrangement responsible to ensure intersectoral and comprehensive care, strategies inside of context of the constitution of RAPS. We can extract and say that the actions of NASF teams in the brazilian city called Natal/RN, still not part of a structured link with health care networks, as happens with the absence of discussions and lack of professionals in the matrix support. In addition, there is a difficulty to do an specialized orientation in mental health because of the lack of human resources in this area and of the insufficient number of the replacement services for psychiatric hospital pratices, bringing up the discussion about the consolidation and expansion of RAPS in fact investigated.

Articulação entre saúde mental infanto-juvenil e atenção básica em Natal-RN: limites e possibilidades

In the case of Brazilian Psychiatric Reformation, mental health juvenile reveals itself as a great challenge, with major gaps in terms of needs, services and actions on mental illness in children and adolescents. This research is a qualitative study of descriptive and exploratory, having to analyze the actions and practices of mental health juvenile articulated between the Psychosocial Care Center juvenile (Caps i) and the basic care in Natal-RN, and specific, identify the limits and possibilities for an important precedent of the care network. After submission to the Research Ethics Committee (CEP) of the University Hospital Onofre Lopes (HUOL) of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN) obtained approval contained in opinion number 777.067 / 2014. For the data collection, it was initially carried out a documentary research in the Municipal Health Department of Christmas about the phenomenon under study, and subsequently, applied semi-structured interviews with the subjects of the research, which were workers Caps i of Natal-RN. The analysis was woven as the thematic analysis technique, understood within the method of content analysis. The results and discussions were organized by categories and subcategories, namely: CATEGORY 1: Limits and weaknesses in the linkage between the Caps i and basic care, with the subcategories: 1.1 Lack of specialized services and devices articulators in network, 1.2 The diversity of situations in the demand juvenile assisted; CATEGORY 2: possibilities for an effective network, with the subcategory: 2.1 Intersectoral collaboration as a strategy for solving attention. The analysis revealed that the integration and coordination of mental health services juvenile and primary care in the city of Natal-RN, has incipient initiatives and/or inadequate for the resolvability intersectoral, where the devices of attention to health involved cannot establish bonds effective and long-lasting in the perspective of co-responsibility and sharing of care. On the other hand, it appears that the existing shares and practiced, configure an exercise in approximation to the dialog between mental health juvenile and basic care. It is highlighted that the shared care and the establishment of intersectoral collaboration within and outside of the health sector is possibility of facilitating the necessary dialog between the services and professionals involved, thus, enabling a better prospect of resolvability of the Network of Psychosocial Care for the youth in reality being investigated.

Representações Sociais da Doença Mental: um estudo qualitativo com profissionais da Saúde Mental

Este trabalho pretende conhecer as representações sociais de Psiquiatras, Internos de Psiquiatria, Pedopsiquiatras e Psicólogos Clínicos sobre a doença mental em quatro dimensões: (1) conceptual – conceitos de saúde e doença mental, (2) explicativa – causalidade da doença mental (3) interventiva – modelos de intervenção e objetivos da prática clínica, e (4) contextual – influência do contexto na prática clínica. É um estudo qualitativo de carácter exploratório, pontuado epistemologicamente pelo construcionismo social e teoricamente pelo quadro das representações sociais. Participaram 30 profissionais (13 Psicólogos, 10 Psiquiatras, 5 Internos de Psiquiatria e 2 Pedopsiquiatras) aos quais foi aplicada uma entrevista semi-estruturada que foi analisada quanto ao seu conteúdo (através do software NVivo 10). Da análise dos resultados salienta-se que as representações dos profissionais quanto à conceptualização da doença mental são heterogéneas. A saúde mental é equacionada como flexibilidade, adaptação, funcionalidade e bem-estar biopsicossocial do indivíduo. A causalidade atribuída à doença mental assenta no modelo interacionista biopsicossocial. Quanto à intervenção, os participantes utilizam estratégias e modelos de intervenção ecléticos, salientando-se como objetivos a promoção do bem-estar e diminuição do sofrimento, a promoção do funcionamento e autonomia e a “cura”. O contexto institucional surge como comprometedor da liberdade de atuação na prática pública e como facilitador da liberdade de atuação do clínico na prática privada. Conclui-se que a análise individual (disposicional) do comportamento patológico é privilegiada em detrimento da análise contextual (situacional). Implicações do presente estudo para o quadro teórico das representações sociais da doença mental são consideradas. / The present aims to acknowledge the social representations about mental disease of Psychiatrists, Psychiatrist Interns, Child Psychiatrists and Clinical Psychologists. Four dimensions were considered: (1) conceptual - concepts about health and mental disease; (2) descriptive – mental disease causes; (3) intervention – models for clinical intervention and clinical procedures; and (4) context – influence of the context in clinical procedures. A qualitative and exploratory study was developed based, epistemologically, on social constructionism and social representations. Through the course of the research 30 semi-structured interviews were conducted (13 psychologists, 10 psychiatrists, 5 Internal Psychiatry and 2 child psychiatrists) to which it was applied a semi-structured interview. A content analysis of the interviews was performed by NVivo 10. Results showed that the social representations of mental disease are heterogeneous. Mental health is conceptualized according to the flexibility, adaptation, functionality and the biopsychosocial well-being of the individual. The causality of mental disease is explained by the interactionist biopsychosocial model. Professionals mainly adopt eclectic intervention models and strategies in clinical practice. Participants refer that their goals are to promote the well-being, diminish the suffering and promote the functioning, the autonomy and “cure”. The public institutional framework compromises the flexibility in the clinical procedures. Private practices increases the procedural possibilities of the professionals. Concludes that the individual analysis (dispositional) of the pathological behavior is privileged in detriment of the contextual analysis (situational). Implications of this study to the theoretical framework of social representations of mental illness are considered.

The Lived Experience of People with Mental Health and Substance Misuse Problems: Dimensions of Belonging

Introduction: People with co-occurring mental health and substance misuse problems are among the most excluded in society. A need to feel connected to others has been articulated in the occupational science literature although the concept of belonging itself has not been extensively explored within this paradigm. This paper reports findings from research that explored the meaning and experience of belonging for four people living with dual diagnosis in the United Kingdom. Method: Researchers employed an interpretative phenomenological approach to the study. Four semi-structured interviews were carried out. The interviews were guided by questions around the meaning of belonging, barriers to belonging and how belonging and not belonging impacted on participants’ lives. Data analysis facilitated the identification of themes across individual accounts and enabled comparisons. Findings: Data analysis identified four themes – belonging in family, belonging in place, embodied understandings of belonging and barriers to belonging. Conclusion: The findings add further insights into the mutable nature of belonging. A link between sense of belonging and attachment theory has been proposed, along with a way to understand the changeable and dependent nature of belonging through ‘dimensions of belonging’.

Those Who Belong and Those Who Don’t: Physical and Mental Borders in Europe

Europe promotes migration and mobility but new or ‘different’ Europeans are still stigmatised and marginalised in our societies. Today, neither refugee status nor citizenship can tear down the mental borders between people who inhabit the same cities or neighbourhoods. Sociology professor Nira Yuval-Davis writes about the meaning of borders, and how they make us differentiate between ‘us’ and ‘the other’ in our daily lives.

Les éléments individuels et environnementaux qui favorisent la réinsertion socioprofessionnelle chez les personnes présentant un trouble mental grave

La recherche a pour objet la réinsertion socioprofessionnelle des personnes présentant un trouble mental grave. Elle vise à apporter une compréhension de leur cheminement de réinsertion sur le marché de l’emploi régulier, et ce, à partir des perspectives des acteurs concernés et à travers une prise en compte des contextes sociaux dans lesquels ils évoluent. Notre étude est guidée par trois objectifs : (1) identifier certains éléments sur les plans individuel et environnemental pouvant faciliter la réinsertion professionnelle des personnes présentant un trouble mental; (2) identifier certains obstacles sur les plans individuel et environnemental susceptibles de nuire à leur réinsertion en emploi; (3) mieux comprendre l’impact de la réinsertion professionnelle sur les sphères individuelles et sociales de ces individus et leurs perceptions quant à la réinsertion professionnelle. Le cadre conceptuel adopté s’appuie sur la notion/paradigme du rétablissement en santé mentale, ce dernier étant compris comme un processus multidimensionnel et non-linéaire. Notre démarche est qualitative et fondée sur des collectes réalisées à ÉquiTravail, un organisme de la ville de Québec ayant pour mission de favoriser l’intégration, la réintégration et le maintien sur le marché du travail de personnes aux prises avec un trouble mental. Des entrevues semi-dirigées individuelles auprès de quatre usagers, ainsi qu’un groupe de discussion focalisé avec quatre intervenants, ont été réalisés. Le matériel a été soumis à une analyse thématique des contenus. Nos résultats illustrent le fait que tant les composantes individuelles que les éléments de l’environnement et ceux relevant de l’interaction entre l’environnement et l’individu sont cruciaux dans les processus de réinsertion socioprofessionnelle. La réussite du processus d’insertion socioprofessionnelle ne repose pas uniquement sur la responsabilité individuelle, mais aussi sur l’interaction entre les composantes individuelles et les aspects de l’environnement gravitant autour de l’individu. Les implications de ces conclusions pour la recherche et la pratique sont également discutées.

Why Does Employment Discrimination Persist against People with Mental Illness? Effects of Negative Stereotypes, Power, and Differential Discrimination

Mental illness affects a sizable minority of Americans at any given time, yet many people with mental illness (hereafter PWMI) remain unemployed or underemployed relative to the general population. Research has suggested that part of the reason for this is discrimination toward PWMI. This research investigated mechanisms that affect employment discrimination against PWMI. Drawing from theories on stigma and power, three studies assessed 1) the stereotyping of workers with mental illness as unfit for workplace success, 2) the impact of positive information on countering these negative stereotypes, and whether negatively-stereotyped conditions elicited discrimination; and 3) the effects of power on mental illness stigma components. I made a series of predictions related to theories on the Stereotype Content Model, illness attribution, the contact hypothesis, gender and mental health, and power. Studies tested predictions using, 1) an online vignette survey measuring attitudes, 2) an online survey measuring responses to fictitious applications for a middle management position, and 3) a laboratory experiment in which some participants were primed to feel powerful and some were not. Results of Study 1 demonstrated that PWMI were routinely stigmatized as incompetent, dangerous, and lacking valued employment attributes, relative to a control condition. This was especially evident for workers presented as having PTSD from wartime service and workers with schizophrenia, and when the worker was a woman. Study 2 showed that, although both war-related PTSD and schizophrenia evoke negative stereotypes, only schizophrenia evoked hiring discrimination. Finally, Study 3 found no effect of being primed to feel powerful on stigmatizing attitudes toward a person with symptoms of schizophrenia. Taken together, findings suggest that employment discrimination towards PWMI is driven by negative stereotypes; but, stereotypes might not lead to actual hiring discrimination for some labeled individuals.

A Letter of Consequence: Referral Letters from General Practitioners to Secondary Mental Health Services

The referral letter is a key instrument in moving patients from primary to secondary care services. Consequently, the circumstances in which a referral should be made and its contents have been the subject of clinical guidelines. This article is based on a project that demonstrated that physicians do not adhere to clinical guidelines when referring patients to secondary mental health services. This research supports earlier findings into noncompliance with guidelines by general practitioners (GPs). The authors briefly note possible reasons, which have been the subject of some debate. They also present a content analysis of referral letters to demonstrate the important ways in which they differ from guideline criteria. However, their central argument is that the role of the referral letter in relation to the GP’s repertoire of treatments has not been understood fully. Such understanding implies the need for a reexamination of the support available for GPs.

The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale

Background There is increasing international interest in the concept of mental well-being and its contribution to all aspects of human life. Demand for instruments to monitor mental well-being at a population level and evaluate mental health promotion initiatives is growing. This article describes the development and validation of a new scale, comprised only of positively worded items relating to different aspects of positive mental health: the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale (WEMWBS). Methods WEMWBS was developed by an expert panel drawing on current academic literature, qualitative research with focus groups, and psychometric testing of an existing scale. It was validated on a student and representative population sample. Content validity was assessed by reviewing the frequency of complete responses and the distribution of responses to each item. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the hypothesis that the scale measured a single construct. Internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha. Criterion validity was explored in terms of correlations between WEMWBS and other scales and by testing whether the scale discriminated between population groups in line with pre-specified hypotheses. Test-retest reliability was assessed at one week using intra-class correlation coefficients. Susceptibility to bias was measured using the Balanced Inventory of Desired Responding. Results WEMWBS showed good content validity. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the single factor hypothesis. A Cronbach’s alpha score of 0.89 (student sample) and 0.91 (population sample) suggests some item redundancy in the scale. WEMWBS showed high correlations with other mental health and well-being scales and lower correlations with scales measuring overall health. Its distribution was near normal and the scale did not show ceiling effects in a population sample. It discriminated between population groups in a way that is largely consistent with the results of other population surveys. Test–retest reliability at one week was high (0.83). Social desirability bias was lower or similar to that of other comparable scales. Conclusions WEMWBS is a measure of mental well-being focusing entirely on positive aspects of mental health. As a short and psychometrically robust scale, with no ceiling effects in a population sample, it offers promise as a tool for monitoring mental well-being at a population level. Whilst WEMWBS should appeal to those evaluating mental health promotion initiatives, it is important that the scale’s sensitivity to change is established before it is recommended in this context.

X-ray vision: mental representation of the human body’s inner morphology

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Personality and Performance: Assessing the Mediating Role of Mental Model Formation in the Personality-Performance Relationship

Personality has long been linked to performance. Evolutions in this relationship have brought forward new questions regarding the true nature of how personality impacts performance. Both direct and indirect relationships have been proven significant. This study further investigated potential indirect relationships by including a mediating variable, mental model formation, in the personality-performance relationship. Undergraduate students were assessed in a 6-week period, Time 1 - Time 2 experiment. Conceptualizations of personality included measures of the Big 5 model and Self-efficacy, with performance measured by content quiz and overall course scores. Findings showed that the Big 5 personality traits, extraversion and agreeableness, positively and significantly impacted commonality with the instructor’s mental model. However, commonality with the instructor’s mental model did not impact performance. In comparison, commonality with an expert mental model positively and significantly impacted performance for both the content quiz and overall course score. Furthermore, similarity with an expert mental model positively and significantly impacted overall course performance. Hypothesized full mediation of mental model formation for the personality-performance relationship was not supported due to a lack of direct effect relationships required for mediation. However, a revised conceptualization of results emerged. Findings from the current study point to the novel and unique role mental models play in the personality-performance relationship. While personality traits do impact mental model formation, accuracy in the mental models formed is critical to performance.

Políticas de saúde mental e direitos humanos

Na primeira unidade, apresenta a Reforma Psiquiátrica em suas quatro fases: crítica ao asilo mercantilizado; tratamento ambulatorial e mudança na legislação; construção da política nacional de saúde mental; e implantação de serviços em redes de atenção, mostrando as premissas, os pressupostos éticos e as diretrizes gerais do movimento, assim como as principais transformações dele originadas. Na segunda unidade aborda as questões ligadas aos Direitos Humanos, as rupturas e os esforços de continuidade na construção do conceito de dignidade humana, associada à igualdade universal e à solidariedade, sua relação com a realidade dos serviços de saúde mental suas demandas e necessidade de ultrapassar fronteiras, do enquadramento sanitário e jurídico do uso de drogas, dos desafios da atenção em saúde a novos públicos, das discussões envolvendo internação voluntária e compulsória e respeito à dignidade humana do diferente. São apresentadas, também, leituras complementares e referências.

A saúde mental na perspectiva da Estratégia Saúde da Família

As raízes históricas e culturais da doença mental sempre foram norteadas por forte rejeição, discriminação, preconceito, violência, isolamento social e despreparo dos profissionais atuantes. Isto ainda acontece na rede de atendimento em saúde, o que inclui a Estratégia de Saúde da Família (ESF). O presente trabalho teve por objetivo discorrer sobre a história da reforma psiquiátrica no Brasil e levantar ações estratégicas para atenção em saúde mental na Estratégia de Saúde da Família. Trata-se de um estudo exploratório descritivo. Foi realizada pesquisa bibliográfica nas bases de dados eletrônicas: LILACS e Scielo com unitermos: história, saúde mental, estratégia de saúde da família. Foram também utilizados como fontes de pesquisa os módulos do Curso de Especialização em Atenção Básica em Saúde da Família e a Linha Guia em Saúde Mental do Estado de Minas Gerais. Verificou-se que o processo de desinstitucionalização de pessoas com longo histórico de internação psiquiátrica avançou significativamente no Brasil, sobretudo através do Ministério da Saúde, que tem garantido mecanismos seguros para a redução de leitos e a expansão de serviços substitutivos aos hospitais psiquiátricos. Por sua proximidade com famílias e comunidades, as equipes de saúde da família se apresentam como um recurso estratégico para o enfrentamento de importantes problemas de saúde pública, como os agravos vinculados à saúde mental do indivíduo. Inicialmente, é importante realizar a avaliação do indivíduo. As demandas psicossociais na Atenção Básica nem sempre aparecem de forma clara nos atendimentos, nesse sentido, torna-se importante a investigação completa sobre o usuário dentro de uma abordagem bio-psico-socio-espiritual, enfocando o indivíduo como um todo. Em todos os níveis da assistência, o acolhimento é a primeira dimensão a ser considerada. É a primeira abordagem para tratar o indivíduo com transtorno mental, pois possibilita ouvir, simpatizar, empatizar, conhecer a realidade do usuário e identificar os possíveis transtornos que ele possa apresentar. A visita domiciliar é outra estratégia útil na abordagem do indivíduo com sofrimento mental, onde os profissionais de saúde mental podem entender melhor o problema do paciente e a dinâmica familiar, assim como buscar o envolvimento dos familiares no tratamento, o acompanhamento do usuário, sua integração no domicílio, além de identificar alguma relação do adoecimento psíquico com as relações interpessoais no núcleo familiar. A redução do número de internações em hospitais psiquiátricos e a criação de políticas orientando novas formas de atendimento para essa população, como a expansão dos hospitais-dia e dos atendimentos ambulatoriais nos centros de saúde, vieram a transformar o atendimento em grupo no principal recurso terapêutico nesses contextos. Existem várias práticas possíveis em saúde mental que precisam ser mais exploradas e os profissionais que compõem a ESF necessitam aprofundar seus conhecimentos técnicos e científicos acerca destas práticas. Sabe-se que a ESF está estruturada na lógica de atenção básica à saúde, por meio de novas práticas setoriais, que vem afirmar a indissociabilidade entre os trabalhos clínicos e a promoção da saúde.