Mental health care situation in family health units: perceptions of community health agents

Examining global Indigenous community wellness worker models: a rapid review

BACKGROUND

There is a growing interest in employing community wellness worker models in Indigenous populations to address inequities in healthcare access and outcomes, concerns about shortage in health and mental health human resources, and escalating burden of chronic and complex diseases driving significant increase in health services demand and costs. A thorough review of Indigenous community wellness worker models has yet to be conducted. This rapid review sought to outline the characteristics of a community wellness worker model in Indigenous contexts across the globe, detailing factors shaping implementation challenges and success.

METHODS

A rapid review of the international peer-reviewed and grey literature of OVID Medline, Global Index Medicus, Google, and Google Scholar was conducted from January to June 2022 for Indigenous community wellness/mental health worker models and comparative models. Articles were screened and assessed for eligibility. From eligible articles, data pertaining to study design and sample; description of the program, service, or intervention; model development and implementation; terminology used to describe workers; training features; job roles; funding considerations; facilitators and barriers to success; key findings; outcomes measured; and models or frameworks utilized were extracted. Data were synthesized by descriptive and pattern coding.

RESULTS

Twenty academic and eight grey literature articles were examined. Our findings resulted in four overarching and interconnected themes: (1) worker roles and responsibilities; (2) worker training, education, and experience; (3) decolonized approaches; and (4) structural supports.

CONCLUSION

Community wellness worker models present a promising means to begin to address the disproportionately elevated demand for mental wellness support in Indigenous communities worldwide. This model of care acts as a critical link between Indigenous communities and mainstream health and social service providers and workers fulfill distinctive roles in delivering heightened mental wellness supports to community members by leveraging strong ties to community and knowledge of Indigenous culture. They employ innovative structural solutions to bolster their efficacy and cultivate positive outcomes for service delivery and mental wellness. Barriers to the success of community wellness worker models endure, including power imbalances, lack of role clarity, lack of recognition, mental wellness needs of workers and Indigenous communities, and more.

Community Health Agents: health promotion skills for adolescents

OBJECTIVE

to identify the domains developed by Community Health Agents in health promotion skill towards adolescents.

METHOD

qualitative study conducted with 16 Community Health Agents, based on the methodological framework of professional skills.

RESULTS

two categories and nine domains of health promotion skills emerged: Knowledge (Concept; Health determinants and conditioning factors; Main population health problems and coping; Intersectoriality); and Skill (Identifying the relationship between health problems; Conducting educational activities; Organizing discussion groups; Proposing and implementing intersectoral actions and establishing articulation with social facilities; Supporting social literacy actions).

FINAL CONSIDERATION

it was noted that there were some domains of skills in health promotion of Community Health Agents among adolescents, but there is a need for continuing education regarding the approach, for these professionals, in relation to knowledge and skills of health promotion.

Psychosocial care network: managers' perception and tensions of the field

OBJECTIVE

to analyze the perception of workers and managers about the psychosocial care network in a medium-sized municipality in the inlands of the state of Minas Gerais.

METHOD

qualitative, descriptive and exploratory study involving twelve participants from different points of the network. The semi-structured interviews were analyzed in the light of Pierre Bourdieu's framework of constructionist structuralism.

RESULTS

the actions offered by the services were based on the perspectives of resocialization, user embracement, group and multiprofessional care, and on approaches to harm reduction, recreation and daily organization. These were configured as the network resources/capital. Tensions were identified in family embracement and in relationships between families and users, as well as in the prejudice towards people with mental disorders. Final considerations: the social agents were willing to contribute to processes of change in order to overcome the focus on specialties, the lack of training of some teams, lack of infrastructure and of some components, especially those related to leisure and community life.

Challenges for implementing a global mental health agenda in Brazil: The "silencing" of culture

Since its emergence in 2007, Global Mental Health has been a growing and polemic area of study, research and practice in mental health worldwide. Despite having a significant endogenous academic production and innovative policy experiences, the Brazilian mental health field and its actors make few references to, and scarcely dialogue with, the Global Mental Health agenda. This article explores an aspect of this divergence between Global Mental Health initiatives and public mental health care in Brazil regarding the role of culture within mental health policies and practices. Our hypothesis is that part of this difficulty can be attributed to the low relevance of the cultural dimension for the Brazilian mental health field, here referred to as the "silencing of culture." We examine the possible historical roots of this process with reference to theories of "anthropophagy" and "cultural uniformity" in the context of Brazilian cultural matrices. We then describe two recent experiences in public mental health care that incorporate cultural competence through the work of community health workers and the example of community therapy. We argue that the development of cultural competence can be decisive in enabling an improved dialogue between research and practice in Brazilian mental health and global mental health initiatives.

WORK PROCESS AND MENTAL HEALTH CARE FLOW IN PRIMARY HEALTH CARE

ABSTRACT Objective: to know the work process and mental health care flow in Primary Health Care from the perspective of Family Health Strategy professionals. Method: a descriptive and qualitative study developed in six of the 34 Basic Health Units in a city in northwestern Paraná. Twenty-nine Family Health Strategy professionals participated in the study. Data were collected from February to June 2018 through an open, single, individual and recorded interview. The statements were transcribed in full, and the resulting material was organized in the IRaMuTeQ® software and subjected to thematic content analysis. Results: from participants’ reports, it was possible to create a service flowchart, and after the data processing steps in the software, together with content analysis, three categories emerged. The importance of community health workers’ work, family presence, referring patients to therapeutic groups and a specialized network, assistance provided to individuals in times of acute disorder and patient referral to the unit stood out. Conclusion: it can be understood that the mental health care network in Primary Health Care is complex and there is a need for communicability between services, as disarticulation generates ambiguities in continuity of care.