Abstract
This study aimed at reporting the meetings of a mutual aid group organized by a Family Health Support Nucleus (NASF), with the Family Health Strategy (ESF), in the interior of the state of Bahia. It aimed to understand how ESF works with care in living with people in mental suffering, their caregivers, and workers. This praxiographic approach was adopted as investigative method, inspired by Annemarie Mol’s studies about care. Thus, from the records in a field diary, registered throughout a year, understandings were produced about effects of user and family participation in groups, in addition to their interactions with other non-human actors. By producing the detailed recognition of a practice, this study was able to demonstrate how unpredictably and uncertainly this technology presents itself, since it is mediated and modified by several actors, despite also modifying these actors. This approach allowed us to perceive the fluidity, openness, and unpredictability of this procedural practice of mental health care, acting in the production of bonds between users, family members, and professionals.
Keywords:
Mental Health; Primary Care; Public Health Practice; Group Practice