Behavior Disorders: knowledge and actions of health professionals and social work

Abstract

Objective: to identify the knowledge of professionals of mental health services and social work on Behavior Disorders (BD) in childhood and adolescence, and to analyze their actions in care for children and adolescents with such disorders. Method: a qualitative, descriptive-exploratory study with 13 professionals from two mental health services and two tutorial councils. The data were collected in interviews and submitted to thematic content analysis. Results: three categories emerged from the interviews: “Knowledge about behavior disorders”, which defines BD as deviations from normality and lack of limits. “Integrated and group care”, which explains the integrated, multidisciplinary and group actions. “Specialized and legal care”, which explains the actions through specialized, medical and judicial care. Final considerations: the results point out weaknesses and knowledge gaps of professionals, causing potential harm in the programming of effective actions, such as identification, referral and therapeutic planning.