Implicações psicossociais da pobreza e suas influências na saúde mental e no apoio social de mulheres em contexto rural.

Abstract

In Brazil, poverty is most striking among rural populations and in the North and Northeast of the country. Women are among the groups most vulnerable to problems, with greater restriction to social protection, in addition to presenting a higher prevalence of Common Mental Disorders. Considering this reality, we ask what influences are there between poverty, social support and mental health in poor women in the rural context? The general objective of the thesis is to analyze the psychosocial implications of poverty and its influences on social support and mental health of women in rural settings. The specific objectives are: to compare the multidimensional poverty rate of men and women living in rural communities in the North and Northeast of Brazil; to analyze the mental health of women living in poverty; to identify the social support network of women living in poverty; and to analyze the influences between social support and mental health in women in the context of rural poverty. Poverty is considered a multidimensional phenomenon with psychosocial implications. Gender is analyzed as a historical, political and analytical category, which enables the understanding of social constructions around the masculine and feminine, as well as the unequal relations constituted between them, opposing the biological determinism around sex. The production of mental health is understood from a complex web of determinations of economic, social, political, cultural and singular order, which express themselves differently between social classes and genders. Social support is considered as an interactive process established between subjects, capable of providing affective, instrumental, informational and cognitive help, promoting quality of life and well-being for the subjects involved. This is a qualitative and quantitative study. In the quantitative stage, 756 Multidimensional Poverty Measurement Questionnaires were applied to men and women living in rural communities in the municipalities of Pentecoste (CE) and Humaitá (AM). In the qualitative stage, 05 thematic workshops and 7 individual interviews were held with women residents of the Serrota and Providência districts of the city of Pentecoste (CE). Descriptive statistical analyses, comparison of means (Student's t-test and Analysis of Variance), Pearson's and Spearman's Correlation Analysis and Chi-square were performed. Qualitative data were assessed from the Thematic Content Analysis. The results showed that poverty, which is expressed in its multidimensionality and which imposes a series of deprivations on rural women, manifested in various areas of life. The indicators of deprivation are high in the studied contexts, especially in the dimensions of work, income and education. Women have worse indicators of multidimensional poverty and greater prevalence of common mental disorders. The centrality of women's responsibility for domestic work, the abandonment of men in childcare, gender violence and the absence of a formal social support network provided by the State that takes into account gender inequalities, together with the social problems experienced in the countryside, are factors that make rural women vulnerable to psychological suffering and poverty. Formal and informal social support are important protective resources for mental health and collective strategies to combat poverty and psychological suffering.