The perception of Psychosocial Care Center users about the assistance in mental health

Abstract

Introduction: The psychosocial care centers (CAPS in Brazilian Portuguese) are specialized services that assist people with severe and persistent mental disorders and it has the purpose of developing the process of psychosocial rehabilitation. Objective: to identify the perception of users of CAPS about the assistance in mental health. Method: it is a descriptive and exploratory study, with a qualitative approach, performed with 08 users of CAPS in Maceió-AL, Brazil, in February 2017, through interviews to collect material and content analysis to discuss the results. Results: From the subjects' statements, such categories have emerged “CAPS from the user's perspective” and “Challenges and possibilities to improve CAPS”. Conclusion: The research points to the considerable importance of these services to the users and to the acknowledgment of the need to invest in public policies to improve the assistance quality.