Abstract

ARAUJO, Maria das Graças  and  VIEIRA, Maria Jésia. Psychological health needs for children with mental deficiency. Psicol. cienc. prof. [online]. 2005, vol.25, n.4, pp. 572-589. ISSN 1414-9893.

The leading of children who have mental deficiency to a psychologist comes above all from the concern towards their behavior fitting the social expectations, detrimentally to their mind health and their well-being. In this paper it was sought the identication of the psychological needs for mental deficient children with previous advised psychotherapy, aiming at a post analysis concerning the psychologist preparation to fill those requirements. This research took place at a special public school in Aracaju, Sergipe . The sample was made up by seven children, ages 7 to 10, male and female, with pre-literacy schooling. It was used the participating observation for data gathering, which were systemized according to the content analysis technique. In the group searched results pointed to the prevailing of love and belonging needs, followed by the needs of growth inside the hierarchy of the basic human needs as described by Maslow.

Keywords : Health needs; Mental deficiency; Children; Psychological health.

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