OBJECTIVE: To identify the perceptions of professional nurses on group interventions by occupational therapists in mental health with patients admitted to a university hospital. METHODS: A qualitative study of the type described. The notes of the coordinators of occupational therapy groups were analyzed in relation to the interviews held with a professional and technical nursing staff that participated in the occupational therapy intervention group for a period of two years. The results were analyzed using the collective subject discourse (DSC) method. RESULTS: We identified four central ideas of the DSC: occupational therapy as favoring integrated care, valuing the subject and his experience, the occupational therapy process to help and care for their own team, the occupational therapy group as a space of resonance and facilitation of the management with the patient because of the perception of relational aspects. CONCLUSION: The strategies were perceived, either as promoters of the reorganization of the life situation experienced by the patient on admission, or as learning opportunities and support for nursing staff.
Occupational therapy; Mental health; Nursing team; Hospital care; Inpatients; Hospital, teaching