Abstract

FERNANDES, Amanda; CID, Maria Fernanda  and  MATSUKURA, Thelma. Children's mental health in primary health care: perspectives and challenges. Psic., Saúde & Doenças [online]. 2022, vol.23, n.3, pp.710-722.  Epub Dec 31, 2022. ISSN 1645-0086.  https://doi.org/10.15309/22psd230310.

The public policies of mental health of children and adolescents in Brazil affirmed the importance of caring for children and adolescents in psychological distress in different equipment of the network, with a focus on Primary Health Care (ABS). Thus, the objective of the present study was to identify how care has been provided to children and adolescents in psychological distress in ABS, in order to reveal the challenges, perspectives and powers at this level of health care. This is a quantitative-qualitative, exploratory and descriptive research, with the participation of 53 managers from the ABS Health Units, from seven municipalities in the State of São Paulo - Brazil. Three instruments were used for data collection: a) way of identifying and characterizing the participants; b) form for identification and characterization of Health Units and c) general questionnaire, available to participants on an online platform. Quantitative data were analyzed descriptively and qualitative data through categorical analysis. The main results indicate that the care actions offered to this population in the ABS are strongly focused on health problems, as in the actions and programs aimed at vaccination, medical consultations and childcare. In addition, it was identified that, when they exist, child mental health care actions are mainly directed at specialists and referrals to specialized equipment. It is argued that there is much to be done in terms of care for children and adolescents in psychological distress in ABS, in the perspective of deinstitutionalization and psychosocial care.

Keywords : Primary health care; Childhood; Adolescence; Mental health.

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