Trajetórias pelos cuidados de saúde mental

: um contributo para o seu estudo

Abstract

The discrepancy observed between the high prevalence of mental disorders and the low number of people receiving specialist treatment (Wang, Berglund, Olfson, Pincus, Wells & Kessler, 2005) led to a growing interest in the ways in which people with mental health problems access the care they need, known as pathways to care (Anderson, Fuhrer, Schmitz & Malla, 2012). Despite solid theoretical and empirical foundations that reinforce the importance of understanding the factors involved in these pathways, in Portugal there are few published studies in this area. This study is part of "Trajetórias pelos Cuidados de Saúde Mental" project and, in the context of the current mental health policies reform, it intends to contribute to the development of an interview script and exploration of the possible variables involved in people with mental health problems pathways. Therefore, we conducted in-depth interviews to 4 users of a mental health service community located in the north of Portugal. Data analysis was conducted using a qualitative methodology, based on the principles of grounded theory. A system was obtained, whose first-order categories were: (1) time, (2) mental health problems, (3) reasons or triggers; (4) agents, (5) interventions, (6) actions and subjective experiences, and (7) perceptions. The study demonstrated the interview script potential, allowing to gather a variety of useful information for an initial understanding of what presents as facilitator or barrier to the seeking and obtaining help for a mental health problem. Thus, the results of this exploratory study are presented as an important contribution to the "Trajetórias pelos Cuidados de Saúde Mental" project which, in turn, will involve users, informal carers and mental health professionals.

Date of Award	11 Jun 2013
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Filipa Palha (Supervisor)