Entre a atenção psicossocial e a assistência social: as formas de cuidado aos usuários de drogas no município de Resende/RJ

Abstract

This study seeks to understand how mental health and social assistance policies are carried out for alcohol and drug users assisted in the municipality of Resende/RJ. To this end, a conceptual review was carried out, both of the very conception of rights and of mental health and social assistance policies, correlating them with the theme of alcohol and other drug use and placing them, singularly, in the researched territory. The general objective of the research was to analyze the effects of public health and social assistance policies in guaranteeing the rights of users of alcohol and other drugs and, for specific objectives: (1) to study the perception of users regarding the attributions of health policies and social assistance; (2) identify existing relationships between sectoral policies; (3) apprehend the professionals' conception about the rights guarantee policies in the municipality; (4) understand how users access health and social assistance policies and, finally, (5) identify the forms of care offered by policy executors. Methodologically, given the political-sanitary conditions of the period in which the research was carried out – a covid-19 epidemic treated in a necropolitical manner by the federal government –, we undertook an exploratory methodological path, based on institutional analysis. The main instruments used were participant observation carried out in the network's devices/services and interviews, carried out both with users and with professionals assigned to mental health and social assistance policies. As a preliminary result, it was noticed, among other highlights, that users feel grateful and welcomed by the policy to which they are bound and that professionals perceive that their actions produce care and guarantee the population's access to services. However, discomfort related to the training process and the performance of social workers as mental health technicians was identified. These findings reinforce the importance of the work carried out, but point to the need to continue studies on the proposed topic.