[Accommodation of individuals with severe mental disorders in Brazil: an interdisciplinary assessment].

Qualitative evaluative research is presented on the accommodation of people with severe mental disorders receiving mental health support from the city government in three large cities in Brazil. Participant observation of ten residents and their caregivers was conducted in Residential Therapeutic Services (SRT) and the routine of eight frequenters of Psychosocial Support Centers (CAPS) who established their accommodation on their own initiative was monitored. Both the residents of SRT and CAPS were interviewed in depth.

[The configuration of the social network of women living in domestic violence situations].

This article presents the configuration of the social network of women living in domestic violence situations in a city in the metropolitan region of São Paulo, Brazil. Interviews were conducted with 9 women and 8 professionals, in addition to observation in three institutions which constitute the network for protection of women. The analysis was underpinned by the theoretical assumptions of social networks.

The potential of an instrument to identify social vulnerabilities and health needs: collective health knowledge and practices.

Objectives: To analyze an instrument that aims to understand the health-disease process, its potential to identify social vulnerabilities and health needs to enable the most appropriate interventions in a given territory.

Procedures: analysis of the data collection instrument--composed of closed and open questions to identify different profiles of social reproduction (ways of working and living)--used in the Project of Pedagogical Development and activities reported by students at a Collective Health Nursing department.

Conclusions: The instrument enables health care professionals, especially those from Collective Health Nursing, to identify social vulnerabilities and health needs, and guide interventions in different contexts, according to the health promotion perspective.

Primary care and children's mental health in Brazil.

Objective: Primary care offers opportunities to expand children's access to mental health (MH) services, but a given practice's community context and staff attitudes may influence which integration models are feasible. The aim of this study was to explore the possibility of using community-based primary care to increase access to MH services in low-income communities in Brazil.

Methods: A qualitative study was undertaken using focus groups with adolescents aged 11 to 16 (n = 46), parents (n = 40), and primary care clinicians and staff (n = 52) from public-sector health centers in 6 low-income Brazilian communities chosen for their geographic diversity.

Social norms of sexual initiation among adolescents and gender relations.

This study aimed to identify standards and expectations regarding sexual initiation of 14 to 18 year-old adolescents in Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil, using data from four focal groups conducted in 2006. Results revealed that gender issues are clearly present in participants' reports and showed to be essential in their choices about the moment, partners and contraceptive practices in the first sexual relation. Adolescents are subordinated to gender roles, traditionally attributed to male and female genders, i.

[Policies and practices towards equity: a broad approach].

This paper presents a preliminary overview of policies and practices in health focusing equity. It begins with a brief description of the actions developed by the Collective Health Nursing Department of the School of Nursing of the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, to support the struggle for social equity. It also presents the different perspectives of the concept that can be identified in health literature, each of them shaping distinct policies and practices.

[Child depression: anthropological approach].

Objective: To understand the sociocultural meanings of childhood depression, from the medical-scientific concept of the disease.

Methods: This was a qualitative study carried out in the metropolitan region of São Paulo, State of São Paulo, Brazil, in 2003. It consisted of ethnographic observation and in-depth interviews with eight psychiatrists from a public health service and nine relatives (parents or guardians) of children who had been diagnosed with and were being treated for childhood depression.