Perspectivas acerca do trabalho psicológico realizado com famílias de membros com transtorno mental no Centro de Referência de Assistência Social

Abstract

The Social Assistance Reference Center (CRAS) has the objective to offer the Integral Assistance Service to the Family (PAIF), which intends to insert users and families living in vulnerability context into the Family Care Assistance Service. This service consists in an interventional planning that encourages these families to think about their reality, to construct new life projects and to make a change in their relationships within their members or between another people outside the family. According to Social Development Ministry (MDS), one of the conditions for the families to be inserted in this service is that one of their members possesses a type of mental disorder that affects social integration and be recipient of Continued Payment Benefit (BPC). The MDS also determines that the PAIF shall not presents psychotherapeutic character. The literature highlights that there is an incompatibility between what MSD requires for psychologists’ work performance and the graduation in Psychology course, which prepares students for clinical working predominantly. This incompatibility makes it difficult the comprehension of the psychologist’s role before Social Assistance, what shows the necessity of studies that enable discussions about the Psychology exercise in this scenario. That assumed, study 1 aimed to analyze perceptions of families of BPC users about the family care service performed by psychologists of PAIF team. Study 2 aimed to investigate the perception of psychologists of CRAS who integrates the PAIF team about their work with family care assistance service for family members users of BPC. This paper is about a reunion of two empiric, exploratory and descriptive studies with qualitative research approach. In both, the instrument used for the data collection was a semi structured interview script. Data were organized in thematic categories according to Content Analysis method and analyzed based on specific literature about the issue. The etude 1 presented eight family members of people who received BPC. We identified that the family members had no acknowledgement about their participation in the family care assistance service and were not aware of what this service was about. Besides, they had not developed neither Autonomy nor Life Projects because of their unfamiliarity with their Social Rights. Being unaware about these rights seems to have impaired the family members life quality, for it made difficult to change the social vulnerability context. In addition, it was evident the necessity of the psychologist working role in therapeutic contexts to attend the emotional demands from the family members and also for the strengthening of their subjectivity. The sample for etude 2 presented eight psychologists that worked on CRAS for at least one year. Overall, it was found that, at joining CRAS, psychologists felt unprepared to start working and had learned how to work with their own practice, with no formal capacitation. The data showed the necessity of inclusion academic subjects in Psychology graduation for contributing to the psychologists working role in Social Assistance field, and a training development for the responsible sector to enhance the care service offered to the population.