WHITE JANUARY: WELCOMING PEOPLE SUFFERING FROM MENTAL ILLNESS IN PRIMARY CARE (Atena Editora)

Abstract

It is well known that Primary Care is the gateway to the user and a place with significant demand from people suffering from mental illness. At the same time as there is a sense of lack of training on the part of the Primary Care health team to deal with people suffering from mental illness, the Health Unit has great potential for strengthening the bond with users. The aim of this study was to develop an intervention plan focusing on the reception of mentally ill users at a health unit in the municipality of Ponta Grossa-PR. The aim was to promote a health education initiative - “White January” - to draw the population's attention to the importance of mental health care; to train the team's professionals in order to establish the role of the Health Unit in welcoming mentally ill users, with a subsequent evaluation of the participants' satisfaction with the event. The method used was action research, which consisted of five stages: exploratory; interest in the research topic; definition of the problem; theoretical basis and preparation of the proposal. This identified a high demand for mental health services and a lack of training on the part of the team. The first action in the intervention plan was to make an educational video on mental health for the Unit's users; the video was shown in the Unit's waiting room on the day of the event. The second action was to draw up an educational poster for users, which was displayed in the Unit's waiting room throughout January, on the theme of “White January”. The third action was to draw up a flyer on how to welcome a person suffering from mental illness at the Unit; the flyer was then presented to the Unit's professionals at a team meeting and a questionnaire was then administered to the participants to evaluate the event. Finally, buttons were distributed to participants to raise awareness of the issue. All the Unit's professionals took part in the event and answered the questionnaire, and the theme of welcoming people suffering from mental illness and the therapeutic bond as a tool was very well received by the participants. The objective of training and sensitizing professionals on the subject was achieved. The community health education actions - video and educational poster - were timid given the health restrictions resulting from the current pandemic. For future interventions, it would be interesting to explore possibilities for greater community engagement, with a view to broadening the scope of the knowledge shared with users, as well as addressing specific mental health issues brought up by the participants.