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SMAD. Revista eletrônica saúde mental álcool e drogas

On-line version ISSN 1806-6976

SMAD, Rev. Eletrônica Saúde Mental Álcool Drog. (Ed. port.) vol.4 no.2 Ribeirão Preto Aug. 2008

 

EDITORIAL

 

 

Profª. Drª. María Magdalena Alonso Castillo

This issue of SMAD represents an opportunity to reflect on the multiple ongoing transformations in the field of mental health and psychiatry, including new directions for public policies, production of scientific evidence to support care for these persons, open up new options of treatment and nursing care models, based on science and humanism.

In its recommendations, the World Health Organization appoints new conceptual and practical orientations, due to multiple factors, particularly the considerable increase in people affected by mental health and behavior problems, such as drugs abuse, which cause great suffering in the people affected and their family. Other factors that stand out are the disability that excludes them from social and productive life and the poor quality of life they are immersed in. The most recent calculations by the WHO on the global burden of morbidity in the group between 15 and 44 years old indicate that these disorders represent five of the ten main morbidity burdens. The main disorders include depression, disorders due to alcohol abuse and schizophrenia.

Consequently, further research is required, as well as the availability of knowledge and its application in effective interventions and care. Therefore, these mental health and behavior problems have become research priorities for mental health and drugs addiction professionals and researchers. As a contribution to science in the sense of generating, sharing and disseminating knowledge, with a view to its accessibility and utility for the scientific community, public policy makers and those responsible for outlining care models in this field, this issue of SMAD presents nine scientific articles. The first addresses ongoing reforms in the Brazilian health system in terms of prevention and care policies in mental health and psychiatry, which have gradually changed from a public safety to a care issue, based on public health principles. The article also discusses the strategic role played by the creation of the Brazilian National Anti-drugs Secretary in this reform and the treatment model based on international standards.

Two articles are related to alcohol consumption. One of them addresses the use of the AUDIT instrument in primary care services and the second looks at the perspectives of bar owners and the meaning of selling this substance in the violence phenomenon.

One article discusses the role of the family in the drugs phenomenon. Its results expand existing knowledge of risk and protection factors, showing that dialogue, the structured family and educational activities can be strategies that should be taken into account in the development of preventive interventions. Two further articles present the role of nursing in intensive care units and the insertion of the psychiatric nurse in teams devising mental health care. They show that the goal of nursing is care delivery for the human being, and highlight the conditions inherent in this social practice, such as daily exhaustion, team work and work as an experience that provokes biased feelings among these professionals.

One article about the routes of madness and the transformation of care for these people adds to the first article published in this issue of SMAD, underlining new psychiatric concepts and practices. A final study highlights the need for qualified pharmacological care, responsible for achieving effective and safe pharmacological treatment, with a view to improving the quality of life of people suffering from mental and behavioral disorders.

We invite you to read the articles, sure that you will find answers to some of your inquiries and new questions for research, and urge you to continue submitting your research to add to the prestige of SMAD.

 

Profª. Drª. María Magdalena Alonso Castillo
Vice-Dean of Graduate Programs and Research School of Nursing
Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León. Monterrey NL, México

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