The life and work of women hospitalized at a psychiatric unit

Abstract

This study was carried out at the women's sector of a psychiatric hospital in the city of Mossoró, RN, Brazil. Our aim was to learn about the life and work aspects regarding first hospitalizations and re-hospitalizations of theses women. To this end the authors applied semi-structured interviews with 10% of the hospitalized women, studied their medical files and talked to the hospital's nursing staff about the women that were interviewed. The material collected showed a high level of dissatisfaction with regards to their private and professional lives. After their first hospitalization, as a result of the traditional psychiatric care, these women initiated they "psychiatric trajectory".