Care strategies in the psychoactive substance use experience

Abstract

Harm reduction strategies involve implementing actions to access care and rights, in dialogue with public policies. However, beyond affirming harm reduction as a perspective, it is necessary to examine the experiences of people involved with this issue, understanding their viewpoints and experiences with harm reduction strategies, understood as a strategy for extending life in dialogue with health production. This study aimed to investigate the care strategies produced in daily life by and for people who use psychoactive substances, from a harm reduction perspective. This is an exploratory qualitative research study, in which semi-structured interviews were conducted with people from a non-governmental organization that works with harm reduction practices. Two workers and two residents of this organization were interviewed; the interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis. The central theme that emerged in the analysis was care relationships, encompassed as 'self-care' and as 'care relationships between individuals and institutions'. Understood as 'self-care', from the perspective of the interviewees, harm reduction involves collective experience in exchange relationships. Regarding the ‘care relationships between individuals and institutions’, the interviewees reflected on the challenges of accessing harm reduction strategies within established care networks, which, by definition in public policies, should promote access to services, care, and harm reduction. The study concludes that it is necessary to understand the relationships between people as a central aspect of harm reduction practice and to reflect on established care networks in order to expand life and transform the very concept of health.