Mapping of occupational therapy practice in the psychosocial Care Centers of Alcohol and Drugs In Sao Paulo state

• Main Authors: Carla Regina Silva, Caroline Nascimento Santos, Juliana Nascimento Nogueira, Ana Paula Serrata Malfitanoa
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade Federal de São Carlos 2015-07-01
• Series: Cadernos de Terapia Ocupacional
• Subjects: Drugs; Mental Health Services; Occupational Therapy; Institutional Practice
• Online Access: http://www.cadernosdeterapiaocupacional.ufscar.br/index.php/cadernos/article/view/941

Drug use and the challenge of finding answers in assistance to the so called drug abuse is a current theme that challenges professionals, services and managers. This study aimed to map features, professionals and the activities carried out by occupational therapists of the Psychosocial Care Centers of Alcohol and other Drugs (Centros de Atenção Psicossocial Álcool e Drogas – CAPS ad) in the state of Sao Paulo, through the application of a self-answerable questionnaire. During data collection, 45 CAPS ad were found in the interior of the state. Nineteen professionals cooperated with the research; 15 of them were occupational therapists. The results showed that these care centers present proposals regulated according to the guidelines of the Ministry of Health, but the complexity of the demand and its multiple facets with the social dimension require further discussion on the type of intervention that has been employed, as well as on its efficacy. Regarding the profile of the occupational therapists, most of them have at least five years of training, graduate degrees, and did not choose the area of mental health and drugs. The occupational therapists have different views of their actions, use different resources and strategies, especially in group activities and through workshops, and signify their actions in different ways, promoting new projects of life by joining treatment proposals from abstinence to harm reduction. We conclude that the assistance to the users of CAPS ad is extremely complex, because it involves social character themes with macro social determinants which require greater integration between sectors, areas and resources.