Abstract
With this study we set to investigate the primary care psychologist’s conceptions on the mental health Matrix Support and the consequent repercussions of such conceptions to his practice at this level of attention, in a municipal context where there are psychologists in all primary care units, and where the mental health Matrix Support only begins at the psychosocial care centers (“CAPS”). To reach our objectives, we selected a Health Unit of each one of the six health regions of the city, and conducted semi-structured interviews with each psychologist, totalizing six interviews. The research used a qualitative approach and the Bardin’s content analysis technique. With the interviews, we apprehended that there are several different definitions of the mental health Matrix Support, seen as: an exclusive practice of the psychologist; a hierarchical strategy to step up orders; or a proposal that facilitates the sharing between the teams. Some psychologists experienced difficulties differentiating Matrix Support from individual outpatient care, while others managed to establish several partnerships for health care, from the understanding that this work requires knowledge sharing that produces a performance directed to integrality.
Psychologist Performance; Mental Health; Matrix Support; Integrality in Health