Interdisciplinarity in mental health care practices: an integrative literature review

Abstract

This is a qualitative research, built as an integrative review focused on compiling and analyzing information on the expression of interdisciplinarity in mental health care practices. Data collection took place between May and August 2021, in the BVS, SciELO, Scopus, Academic Google, OpenGrey, and ProQuest databases, in Portuguese, English, Spanish, French, or Italian. Using the SPIDER strategy, the following were defined: scenario, subject of interest, design, evaluation, and type of research, allowing the bibliographic profile of the records to be presented; characterizing the practices and analyze the characteristics of interdisciplinarity in mental health work. The 43 productions that made up the corpus of the study were analyzed descriptively and using thematic content analysis technique, discussed in the light of the theoretical framework of collective health. Four thematic units were identified: ‘concept’, ‘operationality’, ‘objective’, and ‘attributes’. It was concluded that there is a theoretical emptying regarding what characterizes interdisciplinarity in the mental health work scenario; that interdisciplinarity represents an opportunity to overcome the biomedical model of care; and that there are limits and possibilities for its realization. Teamwork, matrix support, and continuing education are considered to favor an interdisciplinary attitude.