Narratives and senses of the de volta para casa program (Back home program): We are back, and now what?

Abstract

This article presents and summarizes some of the main findings of the research about the repercussions of the De Volta para Casa Program (PVC – Back Home Program) at beneficiaries’ existential territories, in the field of international and national studies on public policies and their evaluation by the beneficiary’s perspective. Due to data volume and extent, the analysis of structured narratives is presented in four main aspects: History of life, autonomy, in which form money has provided and provides power, and the relation with health services. Considering that the beneficiaries participating in the research have been in psychiatric hospitals for many uninterrupted years, the findings showed a profile of people mostly in socioeconomic vulnerability, with predominance of black color and low level of education. Therefore, the history of exclusion and neglect could have contributed to illness, confinement and permanence in closed institutions. It can be stated that the PVC, associated with housing, enabled these people in deinstitutionalization process to increase their bargaining power related to care of themselves, to establish and maintain emotional relationships, to circulate in the city, to consume goods and services. Consequently, greater capacity for expression, communication and critical positioning was observed. Also, the receipt of money engendered new spheres of negotiation.