Sexualidade de pacientes com transtornos mentais internados em unidade psiquiátrica: percepção de profissionais da saúde mental

Abstract

Health professionals have a fundamental role in recognizing the psychiatric patient's right to sexuality, such as sexual education. However, addressing and dealing with the theme in the work of professionals at the institutional level is still taboo, permeated by preconceptions, judgment of values and repression. Objective: This study aims to identify the knowledge and performance of nurses, technicians and nursing assistants regarding the manifestation of the psychiatric patient's sexuality, as well as their abilities to deal with these manifestations. This is a qualitative study, carried out through the application of a semi-structured questionnaire to assess the knowledge of health professionals about the psychiatric patient's sexuality in the institutional context. Method: nurses, technicians and nursing assistants, professionals from the Hospital Nossa Senhora Mãe da Divina Providência - Intensive Care Center in Mental Health - FAT in the municipality of Jaci will participate in the study and will be invited to participate. The instruments used for data collection were: a questionnaire containing information on sociodemographic data and a questionnaire to assess the performance and beliefs of health professionals who participated in the study. Professionals who agreed to participate received information about it, signed the Informed Consent Form and responded to the instruments. The reports were analyzed using the method of content analysis proposed by Bardin. Results: The main results showed that despite the reformulation and advances in mental health policy, the sexual health of patients is not identified as a right in the professionals' conception, beliefs and sociocultural aspects predominate, in addition to the gender issue, sexuality is not understood in as a whole, they associate the manifestation of sexuality with the psychopathological condition, the social exclusion and vulnerabilities of patients with mental disorders were also identified, as a result of the entire historical process of mental health and the lack of training of professionals since the training process to address the topic of sexuality in their professional performance. As positive aspects, it showed that the implementation of the permanent education policy at the institutional level results in a qualification of the service and the manifestations of sexuality are addressed through psychoeducation. It is hoped that this study contributes so that the sexuality of people with psychiatric disorders hospitalized in a psychiatric unit have more visibility and that public policies and sexual education programs address this public who are in social vulnerability.