'We see they are abandoned': Social support between people discharged from long-term psychiatric hospitalizations and their neighbors in Argentina.

BACKGROUND: Neighbors are an important component of personal social network (PSN) and despite their peripheral role and being considered as familiar strangers, they typically provide instrumental support. For people who is discharged after long-term psychiatric hospitalizations, neighbors would offer other types of social support and play a different role fostering the process of becoming full member of a given community. AIMS: To analyze the effects of neighboring on both, those who have had long-term psychiatric hospitalizations and their neighbors. METHOD: Data was collected between 2020 and 2021, including interviews with formal care staff of three housing support experiences in Argentina, and short testimonies from formerly discharged mental health service users living in the community and their neighbors. We analyzed the data using the Framework Method with a focus on the different aspects of social support and equity and reciprocity theories. RESULTS: Results suggest that emotional support was a frequent function displayed by neighbors toward people with a history of long-term psychiatric hospitalizations, which differs from typical neighboring relationships. CONCLUSIONS: Despite reciprocity was observed, users and neighbors displayed an unbalanced helping relationship.

'Now you will understand what it is like to be confined': Did COVID-19 lockdowns affect perceptions about long-term psychiatric hospitalizations? A report from Argentina.

BACKGROUND: Lockdowns have been one of the government's primary measures to control COVID-19, especially during the initial waves of the pandemic, but there is concern on the impact of lockdowns on people's mental health. Confinement is still today the reality of many people with severe mental illness in many places of the world. OBJECTIVE: Given that the general population experienced confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic, we sought to explore if that affected perceptions about long-term psychiatric hospitalizations. METHODS: About 134 residents from middle-class neighborhoods in urban settings in the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, were surveyed. Participants were asked if they felt emotionally affected by the pandemic and lockdown, and about their perceptions of long-term psychiatric hospitalizations. Association between personal emotional impact by the pandemic or lockdown with perceptions about long-term psychiatric hospitalization were analyzed using chi-square test. Qualitative analysis of pandemic and lockdown effects was held. RESULTS: Respondents tended to overlap the emotional effects of the pandemic and the lockdown. Some responses explicitly referred to confinement. No association was observed between emotional impact by the pandemic or lockdown and perceptions about long-term psychiatric hospitalization among the sample. The general population's perceptions of long-term psychiatric hospitalization do not appear to be affected by the first-hand experience of confinement, which suggest persistence of stigma, and the need to reconsider public policies and actions that attempt to impact on it.

Mental illness stigma research in Argentina.

Studies regarding stigma towards mental illness in Argentina blossomed after the first National Mental Health Law was passed in 2010. Methodological limitations and contradictory results regarding community perceptions of stigma hinder comparisons across domestic and international contexts but some lessons may still be gleaned. We examine this research and derive recommendations for future research and actions to reduce stigma. These include tackling culture-specific aspects of stigma, increasing education of the general population, making more community-based services available and exposing mental health professionals to people with mental illness who are on community paths to recovery.

Lo comunitario y la transformación de la atención en salud mental en el contexto de las reformas sanitarias pro-mercado: estudio de caso – Bogotá / The community aspect and the transformation of mental health attention in the pro-market sanitary reforms context: case study – Bogotá

Esta investigación es un estudio de caso sobre la transformación de la atención psiquiátrica en el contexto de las reformas de salud pro-mercado. Analiza la situación de la atención psiquiátrica en la ciudad de Bogotá, pues la reforma del sistema de salud colombiano ejemplifica la implementación de las sugerencias de los bancos multilaterales en materia de salud. Se enfoca en el análisis del componente comunitario de la reforma psiquiátrica, revisándose las prácticas de atención y sus referentes políticos, jurídicos y técnicos, mediante entrevistas a profundidad, análisis documental y cuestionarios a profesionales de servicios. Los referentes son los estudios críticos sobre la reforma de los sistemas de salud y la psicología social comunitaria. Los resultados señalan que la atención comunitaria, en el contexto de este sistema de salud, estaría siendo contraria a los principios de la reforma psiquiátrica. El trabajo es un avance de resultados de una tesis de maestría.

Lo comunitario y la transformación de la atención en salud mental en el contexto de las reformas sanitarias pro-mercado: estudio de caso ¹ Bogotá / The community aspect and the transformation of mental health attention in the pro-market sanitary reforms context: case study ¹ Bogotá

Esta investigación es un estudio de caso sobre la transformación de la atención psiquiátrica en el contexto de las reformas de salud pro-mercado. Analiza la situación de la atención psiquiátrica en la ciudad de Bogotá, pues la reforma del sistema de salud colombiano ejemplifica la implementación de las sugerencias de los bancos multilaterales en materia de salud. Se enfoca en el análisis del componente comunitario de la reforma psiquiátrica, revisándose las prácticas de atención y sus referentes políticos, jurídicos y técnicos, mediante entrevistas a profundidad, análisis documental y cuestionarios a profesionales de servicios. Los referentes son los estudios críticos sobre la reforma de los sistemas de salud y la psicología social comunitaria. Los resultados señalan que la atención comunitaria, en el contexto de este sistema de salud, estaría siendo contraria a los principios de la reforma psiquiátrica. El trabajo es un avance de resultados de una tesis de maestría.(AU)