The mental health of adolescents and young people in the city of São Carlos

• Grant number: 24/13085-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: October 01, 2024
• End date: September 30, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Social Psychology
• Principal Investigator: Luciana Nogueira Fioroni
• Grantee: Beatris Ninno Cestari
• Host Institution: Centro de Educação e Ciências Humanas (CECH). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Among different theoretical perspectives of adolescence and youth, this study understands these stages of life as dialectical processes, marked by contradictions, tensions and openings, and established in different relations: between the subject and nature, with other people around them, with culture and with themselves. It is characterized as a process of biological and identity changes at a fast pace, of developments and new experiments in life, which at the same time broaden perspectives and can also produce vulnerability, considering the context of urban peripheries in Brazil and the ways of contemporary life and connections of this group. In this population, a significant increase in psychological distress post-pandemic has been observed and they would benefit from a unique psychosocial care model that can and should be offered by the Unified Health System (Sistema Único de Saúde, SUS) through the Family Health Strategy. Given this context, the present study aims to map the mental health demands of teenagers and young people in two Family Health Units and investigate their comprehension of psychological suffering in this stage of life, which will be done through three strategies: group practices with the target population, sessions of ethnographic observation and records of mental health demands. The study also aims to investigate the comprehension of health teams about the psychological distress in teenagers and what actions those health units develop, using the collective interview technique. Data will be recorded on specific forms and group practices will be manually transcribed into field diaries The quantitative data will be analyzed descriptively and qualitative data will be analyzed using thematic content analysis.