Shared Mental Health care: what do worker say?

Abstract

The conjunction of the mental health reform and health reform make Brazil a unique setting in overcoming hegemonic biomedical paradigm and in the radicality of deinstitutionalization across the territory. The aim of this study was to analyze the perceptions of primary and specialist care workers about sharing mental health care in a medium-sized municipality in the state of São Paulo. We conducted a qualitative study using the hermeneutic-dialectic method of inquiry based on data from the narratives of focus group meetings with 15 workers held in 2022. Permanent education, professional training, network integration, worker’s mental health and confronting the dismantling of policies were considered essential to shared care. It is imperative that the field of mental health is prioritized and sufficient resources are made available so that practices are increasingly oriented towards the psychosocial paradigm.