FAMÍLIA E DESINSTITUCIONALIZAÇÃO: IMPACTO DA REPRESENTAÇÃO SOCIAL E DA SOBRECARGA FAMILIAR

Abstract

The object of the present dissertation consists in studying the social representations of mental illness, and the perception of family burden within families of persons with mental disorders, as influencing factors in the decision of adherence to treatment in community services recommended by deinstitutionalization. To reveal the object required, first, to explicit the history of mental illness, its anti-institutionalization movements, the conceptual models of psychiatric reform, deinstitutionalization, family and mental illness, social representation and family burden. Later, de decision was made to conduct a study of social representation and another of family burden, with 10 families characterized as adherent and 9 as non-adherent, selected from two community services in the city of Goiânia. The analysis permitted to observe initially, social representations as a non-significant factor of adherence, despite the strong components of gender and social class, and later, the emotional burden as a determinant factor of non-adherence. The results point to the lack of support for families burdened by routine care in the process of deinstitutionalization, and to the need for attention to female caregivers, trough the development of coping strategies and activities of emotional support.