Occupational therapy and socioeducative measures: a literature review

Abstract

Adolescence and youth have been topics of growing interest in Occupational Therapy, and specifically, the relation of this life cycle to the infraction acts has appeared more recently in the practices and research of Brazilian occupational therapists. This article is a literature review carried out in five databases using the terms “occupational therapy”, “socio-educative measures”, “socio-educational measures” and “socio-education”. This research found 22 scientific productions, but only four were analyzed according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. In all selected texts, topics related to adolescence and youth were discussed, vulnerability, history of socio-educational measures, and questions about the daily life of young people in conflict with the law. The concepts and conceptions of the topics covered vary according to the theoretical line of the authors and there is a need for more scientific works being produced on the theme. Occupational Therapy is a profession that can contribute to the work to be developed with young people in compliance with socio-educational measures, in individual procedures, group actions, and/or in the management of the services available for the care of this population.

Keywords:
Review Literature as Topic; Occupational Therapy; Justice Administration System; Youth

Resumo

Adolescência e juventude têm sido temas de interesse crescente por parte da terapia ocupacional e, especificamente, a relação deste ciclo de vida com os atos infracionais tem aparecido mais recentemente nas práticas e nas pesquisas de terapeutas ocupacionais brasileiros. O presente artigo é uma revisão de literatura realizada em cinco bases de dados utilizando os termos “terapia ocupacional”, “medidas socioeducativas”, “medidas socioeducadoras” e “socioeducação”. Foram encontradas 22 produções científicas, sendo que quatro dessas foram analisadas de acordo com os critérios de inclusão e de exclusão. Em todos os textos selecionados foram abordados temas relacionados à adolescência e à juventude, vulnerabilidade, histórico das medidas socioeducativas e questões sobre o cotidiano dos jovens em conflito com a lei. Os conceitos e concepções dos temas abordados variam de acordo com a linha teórica dos autores e há a necessidade de mais trabalhos científicos serem produzidos sobre o tema. A terapia ocupacional é uma profissão que pode contribuir com o trabalho a ser desenvolvido com os jovens em cumprimento de medidas socioeducativas, seja em ações individuais, grupais e/ou na gestão dos serviços disponibilizados para o atendimento dessa população.

Palavras-chave:
Literatura de Revisão como Assunto; Terapia Ocupacional; Sistema de Justiça; Juventude

1 Introduction

According to the 2010 IBGE census, 18% of the Brazilian population is young (15 to 29 years old), with 20 million Brazilians between 12 and 17 years old (Faria, 2017).

There are different theoretical lines when discussing adolescence and youth since these terms differ in their conception and meaning. In a part of the references coming from development theories, the term “adolescent” is used with an individualizing perspective and focused on processes based on the individual. On the other hand, “youth” is used in most currents from sociology, considering the dimension of social relations (Bourdieu, 1983; Margulis & Urresti, 1998; Waiselfisz, 2011).

However, we need to understand that youth, in addition to a transition period, is a social and chronological representation, which is not homogeneous, and maybe different for each individual, depending on their social class, gender, and other factors of social difference (Pais, 1990).

Understanding the different possible forms of representation of adolescence and youth, this article outlines this life cycle in social vulnerability (Castel, 1997), that is, which is found in the precarious work processes and the fragility of social bonds, in addition to having limited access to social, cultural, economic opportunities, which are available by the social context (Abramovay, 2002).

Some current research on the topic highlights the dangers of stigmatization in the common-sense relationship between poverty and crime since the offenses do not have a direct correlation with poverty or social class. What often happens is that infraction acts are treated quite unequally when compared to social classes (Faria, 2017; Morais, 2013).

Borba (2012) discusses the dangers of the correlation between poor youth and an infraction, emphasizing that such categories cannot be seen as a causal line of events, which would lead to the misunderstanding that “[…] all infraction acts are committed by poor adolescents” (Borba, 2012, p. 24).

According to Borba (2012), due to the condition of poverty social rights are violated daily, which ends up exposing adolescents and young people to involvement in infractions. This fact can also be found in other investigations on the topic (Volpi, 2001; Zaluar, 2004; Spagnol, 2005; Saliba, 2006; Sposito, 2009a; Malvasi, 2011).

Malvasi (2011) discuss another important point analyzing the penalization of poverty, in the sense of understanding that most adolescents who suffer sanctions for infractions are poor. This turns the correlation between poverty/offense into poverty/offense.

This is a relevant discussion for occupational therapy since this profession aims at the production of autonomy for people who have difficulties in insertion and participation in social life due to several problems such as the case of individuals in compliance with socio-educational measures. Occupational therapy invests mainly in stimulating the exercise of protagonism and citizenship by the individuals so that they are the main characters in coping with real situations and the vulnerability of their social life (Morais, 2013; Gonçalves, 2016).

For this reason, this profession is very relevant in the Socio-Educational Measures Services because of their understanding of the individual and their relationship with the micro-social and macro-social (Malfitano, 2016), and how these connections interfere in their daily lives, their activities, limits, and potential (Salles & Matsukura, 2013).

The occupational therapist can join the Socio-Educational Measurement Services in several ways: service coordination, managing, budgeting, team formation and organization, internship supervision, internal and external articulation, meetings and discussion in planning proposals for follow-ups, mediation of conflicts with the network, support, and care for the team (Morais, 2013).

Also, the professional works with therapeutic-occupational resources to provide the expansion of the possibilities of life trajectories for this population, in addition to generating rapprochement and bonding with young people (Morais & Malfitano, 2016; Gonçalves, 2016).

In this sense, the objective of this text is to present a literature review that addresses the relationship between occupational therapy and socio-educational measures, focusing on what occupational therapists have produced, within the scope of practices and research on this topic.

2 Methodological Procedures

We searched in five bibliographic databases to carry out this literature review:: Portal de Periódicos CAPES, Biblioteca Digital Brasileira de Teses e Dissertações (BDTD), Biblioteca Virtual em Saúde, Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (MEDLINE) and Scielo.

We chose the terms used in the databases based on the list of Health Sciences Descriptors, as a way to adapt the bibliographic search in the databases used. This may also have been a factor that restricted the scope of the study since some published works may not have used the terms based on these descriptors.

Thus, we searched the terms “occupational therapy”, “socio-educational measures”, “socio-educational measures” and “socio-education”, for the title, abstract and keywords and the publication period was until 2019.

Academic productions that met the following criteria were included: 1) be a thesis, dissertation, or article; 2) the full text be available in the databases mentioned above, online and in Portuguese; 3) correlate with occupational therapy and socio-educational measures. This last criterion was possible through a previous reading of the abstracts.

Thus, incomplete productions, in book format, written in other languages and/or not related to occupational therapy and socio-educational measures were excluded from the research. When completing the search in each database, duplicate references were also excluded.

In total, we found 22 productions, however, only four of them met the inclusion criteria determined for the research, with two dissertations and two articles published between 2013 and 2017.

No studies were found in the MEDLINE and Scielo databases; in CAPES, none of the 12 productions found to fit the inclusion criteria. In the BDTD, we found five studies in which two were inserted, as they met the inclusion criteria and three were excluded because they did not address the proposed theme. In the BVS, four articles corresponded to the search terms, however, only two were accepted and the rest were excluded because they were in a foreign language and did not meet the suggested theme. In the DOAJ database, we found three studies but only two fit the criteria mentioned above.

The works not selected were not related to the theme proposed by the research, most of them addressing socio-educational measures in general or correlated with other professions. Texts written in a foreign language and others published in book format were also excluded.

Subsequently, we read all texts in full included in this research. The collected data were organized in a table containing the name of each academic production inserted, name of the authors, year of publication, type of publication and database found.

With the organization of the works and previous reading, we could identify some common themes of the work of occupational therapists who deal with the adolescence and youth in conflict with the law.

In this sense, the following results will be presented and discussed based on the following categories: “Definitions of adolescence and youth”, “Conceptual discussion on vulnerability”, “History and role of socio-educational measures in Brazil”, “Occupational therapy in socio-educational measures”, “Relevant data of the analyzed works”. Finally, with the conclusion of the reading of the works, we decided to include a category with the discussion on “Education and perspective of the future of adolescents and young people in compliance with socio-educational measures”, which was addressed only in Faria's dissertation (2017) but it is relevant to the understanding of the young person's daily life in compliance with Socio-Educational Measures.

3 Results and Discussions

3.1 Analyzed papers

Morais' dissertation (2013) called “Occupational therapy and socio-educational measures in the open environment: perceptions and practices”, mapped the services of socio-educational measures in the open environment in the cities of São Paulo, with a population above 100 thousand inhabitants, to characterize the services, their operation, technical staff and data related to occupational therapy. Based on this paper, the author published the article “The occupational therapist as an executor of socio-educational measures in an open environment: discourses in the construction of practice” in 2016 to get to know occupational therapists and their performance in socio-educational measures services in half-open.

“Are there any exits? The exits. Along the daily paths of adolescents' lives after fulfilling a socio-educational measure in a closed environment” (Faria, 2017) was another selected dissertation, aimed at meeting the expectations of young people about their daily lives after hospitalization. As a methodology, the author held 22 workshop meetings with young people in the institutions, semi-structured interviews with technicians, and territorial monitoring with adolescents who fulfilled the socio-educational measure.

Finally, the experience report by Gonçalves (2016) “'I didn't even know I could enter here': promotion of cultural citizenship as an experience to re-signify the identity of young people in conflict with the law” carried out a reflection on the use of art and culture as instruments of occupational therapy to promote citizenship and access to rights.

The analyzed papers are presented in the Table 1 below.

Table 1
Gathered and analyzed papers.

Title of the paper	Authors	Year	Type of publication	Database
Occupational therapy and socio-educational measures in an open environment: perceptions and practices	Aline Cristina de Morais	2013	Dissertation	BDTD/DOAJ
Are there any exits? The exits. On the daily paths of adolescents' lives after fulfilling a socio-educational measure in a closed environment	Caroline Beier Faria	2017	Dissertation	BDTD
The occupational therapist as an executor of socio-educational measures in an open environment: discourses in the construction of a practice	Aline Cristina de Morais	2016	Article	BVS
'I didn't even know I could enter here': promotion of cultural citizenship as an experience to re-signify the identity of young people in conflict with the law	Mônica Vilaça Gonçalves	2016	Article	BVS/DOAJ

• Made by the authors.

3.2 Definitions of adolescence and youth

The terms “adolescence” and “youth” are analyzed based on different perspectives. Concerning the chronological age, the work of Morais (2013) is supported by Novaes et al. (2006), who considers “adolescents” as the individuals from 12 to 18 years old and “young” those who are 15 to 29 years old, as well as Statute for Children and Adolescents (ECA) that includes adolescence between 12 to 18 years old.

In the work of Faria (2017), the discussion was deepened using the sociological contribution since youth have their own characteristics such as the non-sharing of socio-historical experiences that previous generations had experienced (Margulis & Urresti, 1998). Faria (2017) also resumes the work of Bourdieu (1983) to understand youth from a sociological perspective, understanding that the construction of youth is social, as the division of power is by age. In this way, the meanings and expectations are assigned to each community.

When thinking about adolescence, Faria (2017) also uses other papers to highlight that it is not possible to consider only the biological, social, or generational aspects, as this is the result of historical, cultural and socio-political constructions (Ariès, 1975; Margulis & Urresti, 1998).

Also, Faria (2017) discusses the differences of social class, supported by Bourdieu (1983) in which the young people from the popular stratum end up having their school trajectory crossed by different contextual demands, and many times can lead to dropping out of formal education, entering the world of work and the expectation of assuming various responsibilities early. On the other hand, the elite youth enjoys prolonged adolescence, with fewer responsibilities, family allowance, being able to guarantee training in formal education, and the prospect of paid work (Bourdieu, 1983).

The paper of Morais (2013) is supported by Freitas (2005) highlighting the fact that it is necessary to expand the concept of adolescence beyond the individual who is preparing to be an adult and has ceased to be a child, as this age group has individuals who they also have rights and it is necessary to invest in shares so that the future can be projected.

Brazilian legislation includes childhood and adolescence as a priority for investments in social policies and makes them unimputable under the legislation of adults, however, being able to respond to special measures for their age group, based on the perspective that they are only built citizenship with an awareness of responsibility (Morais, 2013).

Regarding the transition of this phase of life, Bourdieu (1983) argues that this happens not only due to chronological age but also due to the socially assigned milestones through responsibilities and training. For sociology, youth cannot be considered as the representation of a homogeneous phase of life, as it happens in different ways for each context (Pais, 1990).

Some authors deepen this theme, arguing that the historical construction of youth is articulated with socio-historical and cultural conditions with the influence of social class, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and cultural capital, so it is not homogeneous. Furthermore, they criticize this representation because when the heterogeneity of youth is not assumed, the differences experienced by young people from different social classes are hidden (Margulis & Urresti, 1998; Bourdieu, 1983).

This theme has several theoretical lines, concepts, and conceptions. Some authors consider chronological age, the socio-historical cultural context, and the issue of rights and duties involved in different social classes.

3.3 Conceptual discussion on vulnerability

“Vulnerability” was a term that appeared in all the results included in the research and, despite being a frequently used term, little is found in these same writings about its conceptualization, so sometimes is a broad and little delimited term for its conceptualization.

The work of Morais (2013), the only production found that, in fact, clearly conceptualizes vulnerability, shows that this term expresses a negative result between the availability of resources, both symbolic and material, of groups and individuals, which may be related to the access to social, cultural, economic opportunities available by the State, society and the market (Abramovay, 2002).

Morais (2013) also highlights Sposito (2009b), proposing that vulnerability is a term that appears frequently in an analysis dissociated from the notion of social class, being used to name life situations in which there is “risk”, in a way more expanded. The vulnerability can also characterize situations in which labor relationships are precarious and social support and relational networks are weakened (Castel, 1997). Malvasi (2012) writes that vulnerability is the notion of fragility and dependence, which helps in contradicting, and while protecting young people in the vulnerability, it can also stigmatize them, triggering the possible association between vulnerability and crime.

In the other papers included in the research, the term vulnerability is not so clear on its concept. However, the writings bring some associations that can collaborate with the understanding of this term. The vulnerability appears associated with the need for material goods, difficulties in the family environment (reception, deprivation, material and emotional security), lack of housing, mobility, and food, lack of opportunity in the labor market, family difficulties in accessing services, among other factors. Faria's dissertation (2017) showed that non-access to rights and assets also appear as a result of vulnerability, based on some studies such as Bauman (1999) and Teixeira (1985).

Therefore, Faria (2017) and Morais (2013) considered vulnerability as an important factor but not a determining factor for the adolescent's entry into the service of socio-educational measures, since the offense is only a consequence of a series of rights that have been violated in the lives of these individuals. At the same time, Faria (2017) and Morais (2013) point out the correlation in common and academic sense between poverty and crime, a relationship that can contain stigmatization since crime is also practiced by middle and high-class adolescents, the only difference being the focus of the media and justice towards individuals, that is, the studies show that the difference between poor young people and those of the middle and high class is not in committing or not committing the infraction acts, but in how they are judged.

Therefore, we conclude that part of the studies that use the term vulnerability does not always present its concept clearly, and its meaning and use are sometimes broad and generic. However, when the term in question appears, it is related to the lack of access to material goods, opportunities, quality education, and fragility in their social support networks in all studies analyzed.

3.4 History and role of socio-educational measures in Brazil

All studies found in the literature review seek to make a retrospective on the history of socio-educational measures and to identify what is their function so that it is possible to understand how the offer of services of Socio-educational Measures in the country is currently, reminding historically the path traveled.

Faria (2017) in his dissertation begins his reflection on the place of young people in Brazilian law with a historical resumption of legislation: before the promulgation of the Child and Adolescent Statute (ECA), the Minors Code was in force in the country created in 1927, which was responsible for the regulation for adolescents up to 18 years old and included in its document the differentiation between a child, that individual belonging to a “structured family” and with a social place of value, and a “minor”, coming from of low social class, who was seen as a probable “delinquent” (Faria, 2017).

Since the 1980s, public policies and social movements have observed adolescence, understanding that it is a peculiar life cycle that needed attention, culminating in the Statute of Children and Adolescents, promulgated in 1990, also influenced by the democratization process of the country with the Federal Constitution of 1988 (Morais, 2013; Faria, 2017). In this way, ECA represented significant advances when compared to the Minors Code, with changes in conceptions related to the rights of children and adolescents, seeking to extinguish the relationship between the poor youth and the youth who commit infractions.

Despite all the advances since the document was created, little has happened to promote the safe development and effective social protection of children and adolescents today (Morais, 2013; Faria, 2017; Sposito et al., 2006).

In the specific discussions on socio-educational measures, according to the ECA, they would be a new way of understanding the conduct for the offending acts. The difference in this proposition would be to understand the process as pedagogical and educational and not merely linked to crimes and criminal processes, focusing on the promotion of rights and the protection of individuals in the process of reconstructing their life projects, and not being characterized by uniquely punitive.

Law 12,594, of January 18, 2012, regulates the implementation of socio-educational measures, denominating a National System of Socio-educational Assistance, aimed at systematizing the practices of services, trying to align them (Morais, 2013).

The Rights Guarantee System is a document on socio-educational measures, instituted in 2012, in which it states that the promotion of rights must belong to the State and the family, with the singularities of each young person. In this document, it is possible to check the classification of socio-educational measures (Brasil, 1990): 1) verbal warning that is later registered; 2) damage repair (restitution of the asset, compensation for the victim's loss or material compensation); 3) provision of community services (activities of community interest without remuneration, for a maximum period of six months); 4) assisted freedom, which must be prioritized and provides for the technical monitoring of the family and the adolescent, aiming at social promotion through access to services and rights; 5) semi-freedom, characterized by the restriction of freedom, resulting in the need for the adolescent to stay for a period in a home, under the guidance and monitoring of a professional team; 6) hospitalization, characterized by deprivation of liberty, and should only be used in specific situations in which the adolescent has the right to judicial defense and legal process.

The Social Protection Service and Adolescents in Compliance with Socio-Educational Measures (SINASE) must be operationalized according to the National Social Assistance Policy (PNAS) (Faria, 2017; Gonçalves, 2016; Morais, 2013; Morais & Malfitano, 2016).

Open socio-educational measures have recently transformed local management, close to social groups. Such a transition may mean participatory management, since the population may have the autonomy, as stated in SINASE. However, Morais (2013) reports that, in practice, there are forms of management in different ways, depending on the interests of local municipal governments.

In addition to the theoretical discussion, Morais (2013) discusses an inclination towards juvenile incarceration as a fact that contradicts the priority character of measures in the open environment, provided by law. This is because there is a tendency for society to use hospitalization as a form of social control, excluding adolescents who have committed an infraction of living together and accessing social goods. Despite the high rates of hospitalization, measures in the open environment remain the most applied. According to Brasil (2007), the average rate is two adolescents in compliance with socio-educational measures in an open environment for an adolescent in the hospital.

Thus, the conquest of the rights of children and adolescents is a recent struggle and influenced by popular support and through this support, further advances will be achieved. Many changes are necessary so the guarantees by law in the ECA and specific documents are put into practice and affect the entire Brazilian population, not becoming another form of privilege for the layers of greater economic power.

The achievements regarding the rights of children and adolescents are recent. It begins with the Minors Code, which distinguished children's rights based on their social class and progressed to ECA, guaranteeing a social place for this life cycle, stipulating their rights and duties. In young people who commit the offense, ECA values the construction of new forms of conduct through pedagogical form and without hurting the rights of adolescent development. To this end, the National Social and Educational Service System was created as a document that regulates the functioning of socio-educational measures.

3.5 Occupational therapy in socio-educational measures

All the papers analyzed and selected in this research broadly present the work of occupational therapy, focusing on the theoretical-methodological perspective of social occupational therapy. However, Morais (2013) is the only author who methodologically brings approaches used in the occupational therapy profession specifically for working with socio-educational measures.

Morais (2013) discusses the work methods that occupational therapists have used in municipalities in the State of São Paulo with a population above 100 thousand inhabitants. The main strategies carried out with the population monitored in these services are individual monitoring, conducting occupational therapy groups, home visits, technical visits and referrals for professional training courses, reintegration into the formal educational system, health referrals, proposals to search for formal work, assistance for different personal documentation, cultural, sports and leisure activities, and several social and community programs.

There is also the role of occupational therapists in coordinating the service, performing management, budget forecasting, team formation and organization, internship supervision, internal and external articulation, meetings and discussion in planning proposals for follow-up, mediation of conflicts with the network, support, and care for the team (Morais, 2013).

Morais (2013) also writes about the reality of the services of socio-educational measures in which the occupational therapist is inserted, offered in more than half by Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), with an average of six professionals for 98 adolescents per month.

Occupational therapists in these services propose different activities understood as a therapeutic-occupational resource that can generate adherence for this age group, with their work under the perspective of expanding the possibilities of life trajectory choices for adolescents and young people and not from the perspective of removing them from the infraction. Therapeutic-occupational resources end up being a means of intervention and approximation, enabling bonding, a relationship of trust and interdependence, which allows the professional to reach the individual's real demands (Morais & Malfitano, 2016; Gonçalves, 2016).

Therefore, for Morais (2013), occupational therapy seeks emancipation and autonomy for people who have difficulties in insertion and participation in social life due to several problems, such as the case of individuals in compliance with socio-educational measures, investing mainly in stimulating exercise of the protagonism and citizenship carried out by them, so that they are the main characters in facing real situations in their social life. For this, the occupational therapist is based on his theoretical training in daily life, the locus of his actions (Galheigo, 2003; Gonçalves, 2016).

3.6 Relevant data of the analyzed papers

Some data from the studies analyzed will be highlighted below to expose relevant information to studies on young people in conflict with the law and the practice of occupational therapy with this population.

According to the productions included in the literature review, we found that there is a predominance in the prison system of young blacks, with an income ranging between one and three minimum wages to support 3 to 6 people (Faria, 2017; Instituto Latino Americano das Nações Unidas para Prevenção do Delito e Tratamento do Delinquente, 2008). Faria (2017) problematizes this data, highlighting that it does not mean that only poor young people are actors in infraction acts, showing that poverty has been criminalized in the Brazilian context.

Data found in the studies analyzed regarding the classification of offenses showed that 43% refers to theft, 24.8% to trafficking, and 9.23% to homicides. Most acts are against property, which leads Faria (2017) to raise questions about the reasons for the high rate of hospitalizations since according to ECA (Brasil, 1990), these should be used only when there is a serious threat or violence to the person, non-compliance with other measures or accumulation of other serious crimes.

Regarding the service of socio-educational measures, the research by Morais (2013) in the municipalities of São Paulo with a population above 100 thousand inhabitants showed that most of these services are offered by NGOs and is also considerably recent, mainly from 2008. The lack of adherence by adolescents and young people to the service, the excess of time invested in bureaucratic activities and not necessarily in direct contact with young people, the difficulty of creating partnerships with the service network, the inconsistency between the time of compliance with the socio-educational measure and the infraction, the frustrations generated in the monitoring process, in addition to effectively guaranteeing the rights of young people, are the main difficulties reported by the professionals of this service (Morais, 2013).

We also noted the contradiction of professionals in practice, who, at the same time that they see adolescents in compliance with a socio-educational measure as “an adolescent like any other”, they highlight the reservations, reaffirming the relationship with the infraction.

Another data pointed out by the paper according to the occupational therapists participating in the research by Morais (2013) is the insufficiency of the presence of the content of social occupational therapy in the graduation in occupational therapy, which, added to the lack of theoretical productions about the profession and socio-educational measures, it ends up resulting in unpreparedness of the category to understand the service and produce coherent practices (Morais, 2013; Morais & Malfitano, 2016).

3.7 Education and perspective of the future of adolescents and young people in compliance with socio-educational measures

In the article of Faria (2017), the author seeks to discuss “education” and “life after the socio-educational measure”, analyzing how these issues are experienced in the context of young people who fulfill socio-educational measures. Although the category was studied by only one author among the four studies analyzed, we decided to include these subjects in the article due to its importance for understanding youth issues in contact with the Socio-Educational System.

According to the Brazilian Constitution (Brasil, 1988), education is the duty of the State and the right of all. Regardless of their social class, the government and families must take care of children and adolescents. However, in the socio-educational measure, attendance becomes the responsibility of the young person. In his research, Faria (2017) shows that, for workers in socio-educational measures, the school works as an obstacle, producing vulnerabilities and/or exclusion, and strengthens the concept of criminal subjection. In many cases, vacancies in educational institutions are denied to young people of socio-educational measures, and legal action is required for the conflict to be resolved; this also happens in professional courses.

Faria (2017) relies on Borba (2012) to highlight that most of the school difficulties already existed before the youth was involved in the infraction act since the first year of elementary school, there is a lack of assistance in the studies. Thus, evasion is related to difficulties of a different nature, not to criminality. The school is focused on the demands related to “teaching/learning”, however, young people arrive at the space with other demands.

The lack of investment for structural improvements and continued teacher training is another difficulty that education faces. Faria (2017) points out that the difficulties of quality education are not the fault of agents, teachers, or young people, but the organization of the educational system. For the author, the role of socio-educational measure and education would be to reverse the stigmatization that exists in the spaces that young people frequent.

According to Faria (2017) in the young person's daily life, in many cases, the study is not part of the family culture and they are created with autonomy, a conflicting factor with the tutored and organized school environment traditional molds. Faced with this scenario fraught with difficulties, the return to trafficking becomes a profitable outlet, as the young man manages his time and effort and is rewarded in the short term, earning more than he would earn in a regular job or studying.

One of Faria’s (2017) goals was to analyze how the young person's daily life is when he returns home after completing the socio-educational measure. There are social obstacles that close the doors to the reconstruction of possible daily life, such as the scarcity/insufficiency of services and spaces for young people, difficulties in accessing and staying in school, which has been presenting as a concrete difficulty in ascending the structure social, difficulty in finding support and belonging in spaces outside the socio-educational measure, requiring help from other actors to access other places and lack of meaning in projects aimed at education and professionalization, instituted by the services. Criminal subjection is not deconstructed in society; therefore, the return of the youth remains marked and hindered.

In addition to the macro-social problems that permeate this daily life, Faria (2017) highlights that the youngsters in the research report other difficulties: the rules of the factions, such as the prohibition to leave them, once inserted; the constant feeling of death, due to the territorial clashes of the factions and the friction with the Military Police, and other constant clashes that make certain young people have to live with fear (Faria, 2017; Manso, 2012).

In the daily post-socio-educational measure, young people have restricted circulation. This group feels the need to be accompanied and continue to have support after hospitalization. Many young people report preferring to continue fulfilling the socio-educational measure because they are protected and with guaranteed basic rights, in addition to having support that allows them to stay “away” from the world of crime. In these cases, the family works both as support and as future life projects for young people. Thus, change does not depend only on them, but on external factors, such as the provision of services, rights, and attitudes that benefit them (Faria, 2017).

In his work, Faria (2017) points out that the problems of young people in conflict with the law go beyond the discourse rooted in society. Education is seen as the solution to offenses, however, there are several difficulties involving the school environment before the act, such as the precariousness of education in the country, the educational model that does not meet the demands of young people and criminal subjection.

4 Final Considerations

The analysis of the bibliographic productions found with the terms “occupational therapy”, “socio-educational measures”, “socio-educational measures” and “socio-education” resulted in different themes: “Definitions of adolescence and youth”, “Conceptual discussion on vulnerability”, “History and role of socio-educational measures in Brazil “,” Occupational therapy in socio-educational measures”, “Data on adolescents and young people in conflict with the law” and “Education and prospects for adolescents and young people in compliance with socio-educational measures” (Morais, 2013; Morais & Malfitano, 2016; Faria, 2017; Gonçalves, 2016).

In general, there is a diversification of concepts and conceptions about youth and adolescence, depending on the theoretical alignment, since some studies address the chronological age, biological aspects, and others consider the socio-historical cultural and economic perspective on this social group.

We observed that “vulnerability” was a term discussed in all the papers found, however, there is a lack of conceptualizations about it. Despite this, studies show that vulnerability is expressed in fragility and/or lack of housing, food, and education assistance, the impossibility of accessing both health and social assistance services, and the criminal subjection that young people are exposed to.

All the papers suggest that a causal relationship between vulnerability and young people who commit infractions should not be proposed, although this conception exists in common sense, as this can be considered a triggering factor, but not a determining factor.

There is also an attempt to make a retrospective on the history of socio-educational measures and to identify its function. The socio-educational measures, regulated by the Rights Guarantee System, apparently intending to form new conducts and behaviors, promote rights and protection of the individuals through the reconstruction of the youth's life projects.

There are several documents, laws, and statutes to guarantee the rights and duties of young people. However, in practice, there are difficulties in ensuring their full implementation and reaching all social classes. Also, socio-educational measures have their regulations and objectives to guarantee the personal and social development of young people and to build possible life projects with them. However, there is difficulty in implementing the rules. Also, when the young person returns to his place of origin and his family, he returns to the same daily life full of unresolved problems and is faced with the same factors mentioned above.

Occupational therapy is inserted in this context using strategies such as individual monitoring, groups, home visits, technical visits, and referrals related to health, education, professionalization, sport, and leisure. The professionals are working in the management of services, conflict mediation, and articulating, both internally and externally, and the services of socio-educational measures.

The role of occupational therapists in socio-educational measures seeks the emancipation and autonomy of individuals who have difficulties in social inclusion and participation, investing in protagonism and citizenship, making the young person the main character in the real situations of their daily lives.

We observe the need to carry out further studies on this theme to understand and develop strategies that improve the functioning of socio-educational measures, and to understand the daily lives of young people who have committed infractions and to support the professional performance of occupational therapy.

Acknowledgements

We thank Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa e Inovação do Espírito Santo (FAPES) for funding the research before this article, by Notice FAPES Nº 03/2017 - Universal.

• How to cite: Kobi, E. C., Machado, M. V. C., & Monzeli, G. A. (2020). Occupational therapy and socioeducative measures: a literature review. Cadernos Brasileiros de Terapia Ocupacional. Ahead of Print. https://doi.org/10.4322/2526-8910.ctoAR2016

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Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  04 Sept 2020
• Date of issue
  Jul-Sep 2020

History

• Received
  02 Oct 2019
• Reviewed
  18 Jan 2020
• Accepted
  25 May 2020