ABSTRACT
Background
Primary Care Services is part of the Brazilian Psychosocial Care Network (PCN) and is expected to play a fundamental role in the identification of cases, monitoring and promotion of mental health, to which Community Health Agents (CHA) can contribute.
Objective
Analyze the mental health situation of the municipality of Itabuna - BA, compare information provided by CHAs and the Health Information System for Primary Care (SISAB).
Method
This was an exploratory, descriptive, documentary research that retrieved information from the SISAB and from Mental Health Coordination registry files, completed by CHAs.
Results
The participation of CHAs increased by more than six times the number of people with mental disorders identified, but the number of users of alcohol and other drugs was lower than that registered in SISAB.
Conclusion
There was evidence of PCN disarticulation and a model of biological and hospital-centered care. The sources of information complemented each other, evidencing underreport of mental health cases and good potential for CHAs assistance in the active search of users with mental disorders, but not of drug users. Mental health problems were related to aspects of socioeconomic vulnerability, indicating the need for intersectoral articulation to provide comprehensive health care.
Keywords:
mental health; community health agents; epidemiology; primary health care; health information systems