Mental health and psychosocial care: Evaluating new educational strategies in times of a pandemic

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The objective was to describe and discuss the educational strategy of virtual improvement course of the educational project SMAPS-CE from the years 2021 to 2022. METHODS: This is an exploratory-descriptive, quantitative study, developed from the collection and analysis of data extracted from the Academic System of Unified Management platform and the Virtual Learning Environment of the Public Health School of Ceará, as well as data from the Google Forms registration. RESULTS: The training was structured in three modules: 1) Introduction to the course; 2) Clinical (basic and advanced) and 3) Territory, mental health and psychosocial care, with a total of nine learning units and a workload of 180 hours to be developed over a period of four to six months. The classes were composed of two-thirds of higher-level primary care health professionals and one-third of mental health professionals, in addition to managers, in accordance with prior agreement with the Ceará State Health Department. Considering the total number of applicants, about 68.92% finished the offer between approved and disapproved. Regarding the professional categories, around 55% of medical professionals and nurses were approved, when 70% of the vacancies were only offered to doctors and nurses in primary health care. FINAL CONSIDERATIONS: By incorporating the hybrid method in the formation process of the SMAPS-CE, the challenge of simultaneously breaking with traditional teaching models and seeking to build new paths for the actions of permanent education in mental health in Ceará was accepted. Several strategies were adopted for the development of professional competences, also extending the period of offer of the course. At an opportune moment, the changes in the proposal will be evaluated and compared to the others, as a way of understanding and continuing to improve the pedagogical proposal of the project.