Reflexive groups with medical students from the mental health league as a strategy for change

Abstract

This paper set out to present the outcomes of qualitative research conducted with medical students of a Mental Health and Psychiatry League (LASMP). Its objectives were to sensitize them to perceive themselves as people and provide them with other rationales different from biome-dical ways of thinking. The reflexive groups, within the culture circle, provided an opportunity for an exchange of ideas, time for reflection and sharing of fully formed daily experiences. They were configured as a strategy of change and awa-kening to rethink models of health more focused on healthcare than on diseases. Participant ob-servation enabled revealing, through the narrati-ves, particularities of the experiences, discourses and culture of the group itself. The analyses were carried out using the reflexivity method (Bour-dieu, 2001; 2004), as it permits the systematic de-epening of the contents of the narratives. Without any pretension of synthesis, the reflexive course on the narratives started from the assumptions of thought and actions to arrive at the constructed and shared meanings. They offered possibilities of transforming the way of perceiving the world of work, themselves, and the people around them; of changing the understanding of mental health beyond the individual level.