Nurses and mental health education in primary care

an integrative review

Abstract

This is a literature integrative review that has analyzed researches on the participation of nurses in education initiatives regarding mental health in Health Centers. We researched, in BDENF, LILACS and SciELO databases, articles published between 2001 and 2011. We found eight articles that showed two main themes: health education actions directed to mental health, subdivided into preventive and promoter approach; and difficulties of nurses in conducting educational activities in mental health in primary care. It was concluded that there were few studies on the subject, showing the need for government and nursing educational institutions to include as political and curricular priority educational activities on mental health in Family Health Strategy.