Despite efforts towards disinstitutionalization, mental health workers must deal with a large number of residents who are over 60 years old and who are difficult to reintegrate into society. This project was conducted in a Full-Care Health Center, "Santa Rita" (previously known as the Santa Rita Psychiatric Hospital) in Passa Quatro, SP, Brazil, with the purpose of offering an in-service training course in the area of gerontology. A total of 253 employees attended the course, including employees who were direct care providers, administrative workers and operational support employees. A pre-test was used to identify the employees' informational and practical needs in the area of gerontology, and the training course was designed to meet these needs. The course included 36 hours of instruction, using both lecture and interactive teaching methods. The results show the importance of offering in-service training courses in the area of gerontology for mental health workers. As such, we believe that courses of this type should be conducted in other institutions with similar characteristics.
Mental health; Aged; In-service training
