Comunidades terapêuticas em Santo Antônio de Jesus - Ba

Abstract

Therapeutic Communities (TCs) are residential treatment institutions that offer care services for people with problems caused by drugs abuse, which main therapeutic tool is the coexistence among peers. Assuming that many of these institutions have not been identified yet and they may be working clandestinely, and considering the lack of information on TCs in the region of Reconcavo Baiano, this study aimed to map the TCs that work in Santo Antonio de Jesus-BA. We also tried to number, identify, map and characterize the transitional residential institutions for drug addicts. This was a cross-sectional study of descriptive and exploratory approach, which included information collected with seven subjects: two key informants, a mental health professional and four coordinators of the institutions identified in the study. For data collection, we accomplished semi-structured interviews, with subjective and objective questions. We described the profile of the TCs, their staff and their ways of operating. The number, the main characteristics and the profile of TCs were recorded in a chart. Four non-governmental organizations were mapped. They target male psychoactive substances users and they generally are nonprofit organizations, mostly maintained by donations and located in the countryside. Research results allowed to draw an identity profile of these institutions, allowing a panoramic view of how assistance of drug addicts who seek this type of service in the city has been set and seeking a real and balanced view of the role that they have occupied in current context. We have seen outdated information on these institutions in the city, with the identification of only three TCs by the Psychosocial Care Center for Alcohol and Drugs (PCC AD). Despite the fact they have been working for over four years, all TCs identified still have weaknesses related to operating standards recommended by the LGR nº 29, which approaches the sanitary safety requirements for operating this kind of institution. However, these institutions are the only transitory residential treatment institutions identified in the county that have provided shelter to users, particularly in vulnerable situations. This lack of Psychosocial Care Centers (PCCs) in the city that can offer a safe environment, food, home and care in three shifts, are possibly the reason why only TCs can fill the void left on public assistance. In turn, the liability on monitoring TCs allows operation out of the standards and the provision of services not yet qualified. We conclude that it is needed to invest in both expanding the Unified Health Service (UHS), with the implementation of alternative points of residential services in PCCs, and the monitoring and orientation of transitory residential treatment TCs already located in the city, in order to guarantee qualified services and the protection of assisted users in this type of institutions.