Shared knowledge production in mental health: the Research Monitoring Committee

Abstract

This article intends to reflect on the functioning of the Research Monitoring Committee (CAP) adopted in the national study that evaluated the effects of theDe Volta para Casa Program (PVC – Back Home Program) in the lives of the beneficiaries in eleven Brazilian municipalities. The research was approved by Research Ethics Committee and developed between 2015 and 2018. The CAP can be understood as: a device of interlocution by circulating opinions, questions and criticism of the social actors involved in the research process; a device of research qualification, considering that procedures’ definitions and findings’ analysis undergo negotiation processes between different actors; and a managerial device, because it allows recommendations to the services involved. In all the participating municipalities, the CAP establishment was agreed upon by the mental health managers. On average, three meetings per municipality were held, lasting at least one hour and gathering 15 participants (researchers, managers, workers of the Psychosocial Care Network (Raps), caregivers of therapeutic residences, beneficiaries and family members, among other actors), in a total of thirty meetings. The information was organized into three axes: CAP configurations, discussed content, and research processes. The most recurrent issues relating to PVC were its effect on the daily life of the beneficiaries, its use as a tool for the development of multiple skills, and difficulties of both the implementation of the program and the money administration by beneficiaries. The CAP promoted protagonism, strengthened beneficiaries’ autonomy, enabled the problematization of the practices of the professionals and managers of the Raps, and contributed to the qualification of the PVC.