A psicologia na assistência à Saúde Pública: análise sob a óptica das representações sociais

Abstract

The aim of this work is to know the representation universe of the psychologists working in Fortaleza public area and their clientele regarding the health process-illness, psichologist-patient relationship, health concepts and the psychologist’s role in public health and also to investigate the hindrances toward his professional perfomance in the context of public health, in order to sugest some more suitable interventions to the present reality. The research viewed by the social representations theory — SRT is a way of having a view of the whole world encompassing the intrapersonal, interpersonal and group levels. The beginning source was an open interview adapted from “Eliciting Patients explanatory illness models" and moving on from there to include seven topics: I. Health-illness process; 2. Psychologist patient relationship; 3. Prevention; 4. Health concept; 5. Psychologist action in public health; 6. Performance and 7. Graduation into the community. Ten psychologist, which worked in the public area in Fortaleza, were chosen at random from Eleven Regional Committee of Psychology, as well as twenty clients, two for each psychologist that were indicate by the professional himself. The data had qualitative treatment though the analysis of the technical contents. The process applied was the thematic analysis in which the significant categories stand out toward the analytical object in view. The social representations of the health process-illness of the clientele is always inserted in socio-familiar and spiritual dimensions while for the psychologists it is more specific from the individual life of the patient, although those professionals related it to familiar aspects. Another fact that calls one’s attention is the way the psychological interventions are being fully understood by the psychologists: besides the common interventions, there are great values for the clientele in physical exercises for relaxation more direct procedures like orientation for recreation and labotherapeutic occupation. As a result, the population absorbs more concret and closer interventions that fit their reality. There was a balance between the two levels of the social representation about public health refering to the welfare, but the clients also see it as na absence of occurrence, calm, peace and tranquility ans a better life, as they were representing their own existential moment (rupture of life in illness and as a consequence the search for health). .1 One can notice that the clientele "doesn’t differenciate the psychologist that works at the public health from the ones who works at the clinic. As for the professionals, the social representation of their perfomance is not formulated yet; it only has a worthy content. it became evident that all of the psychologists interviewed didn’t undergro experiences working in health area prior to their graduation It is possible to see, regarding, the performance and graduation that there are three kinds of representation, namely: knowledge — how to have prior experience, learn how to work as a team, make applicable disciplines that can be applied to the area, study Institutional Psychology, to assist in short-term psychotherapy and to understand health in general. The second kind of representation is performance: the lack of physical space, professional recognition, stow victories, salary problems, institutional limitations, working with clientele of lower income. The last representation has to do with themselves: they have to like the patient, do a psychotherapic treatment and not staying behind four walls. The main conclusions are: SRT offered conditions to understand the forms of knowledge used by the psychologists and clientele. It is responsability of the psychologists not to forget the biological, psychological, social and spiritual dimentions of the person, act in more preventive and prospective way, pay more attention to the planning and actions that are institucionally and socially based, review their methodology and interventional technics creating new resources, use also focal groups techinics in order to cope with their clientele problems, giving priority to the multidisciplinary attending in search of the interdisciplines in health care.