Community Mental Health Group: care in an online community activity

• Grant number: 21/02862-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: June 01, 2021
• End date: May 31, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Psychological Treatment and Prevention
• Principal Investigator: Carmen Lúcia Cardoso
• Grantee: Bruna Battaglini
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (FFCLRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Covid-19 pandemic has severely impacted the population's mental health, due to the conditions that intensify psychological suffering, such as restrictions on social contact, job loss, loved ones death, fear of contagion, among others. In this context, it is necessary to promote remote psychosocial support for mental health demands. Online group interventions may provide mental health care for the population in this scenario, enabling to reach many people, as well as ensuring social isolation. The Community Mental Health Group (CMHG) is an established mental health care program, which has performed its activities remotely during the pandemic, mediated by online technologies. The CMHG presents a perspective of mental health care based on the exercise of attention and sharing daily experiences. This study aims to understand the CMHG characteristics related to mental health care, from the perspective of the experiences reported by the participants in the online sessions. The data corpus will be composed of three CMHG online sessions, recorded in audio and fully transcribed by the researcher, under participants' consents and ethical precautions assurance. Thematic Analysis (TA) will be used for data analysis. The study may contribute to broadening the understanding about the CMHG as a mental health care intervention, as well as its particularities on online format. In addition, this research may broaden comprehension of the mental health support offered by CMHG online during the pandemic and contribute to the scientific knowledge about online group practices.