Redes sociais na linha de cuidado de saúde mental em tempos de pandemia

Abstract

The object of this study is the social networks of workers from the family health teams who deal with the mental health care line, giving attention to users with psychological distress. Objectives: To establish the configuration of social networks in the care of cases of mental disorders; to understand the processes that constitute the social networks in the care of cases of mental disorders and describe the importance of the members of these social networks in the care of users with mental disorders. Methodology: This is a descriptive study with a quantitative and qualitative approach, with the setting of primary care units with family health teams, where the professionals of the teams were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire, which was later analyzed using Social Network Analysis and Bardin content analysis. The data was analyzed based on Pierre Bourdieu's theories. Results: Two categories were found using content analysis procedures: Structure of Care and Perceptions of Care Practices. In the perceptions about the practice of care, it is observed that there is a difficulty for professionals in caring for mental health issues, often due to lack of tools, however, many times from a difficulty, a habitus of care was developed, using existing tools and learning through contact with users. The pandemic shows an increase in cases of psychological distress, among users and the professionals themselves, and the symbolic violence ends up showing up, either because of the lack of structure right at the beginning of the pandemic, or for not being able to maintain the care as it was before the pandemic. In the care structure, it is observed that training contributes to the difficulty in handling cases and that matrix-based strategies can be a way to help with care. The analysis of social networks helps us to see that the network formed in this unit is not very strong, therefore there is little interaction amongst the agents. It is observed through the centrality metrics that medical professionals and specialties are still the core of care. Conclusion: The pandemic period was a limiting factor for the study since not all professionals could be heard. However, it is noted that the biomedical professional centrality persists, but there are attempts to change this scenario, with matrix-based strategies and continuing education being possible auxiliaries to this change, in addition to the protagonism of other professionals, such as community health agents and the oral health team, increasing the capillarity of care provision for users.