CHILDREN’S PSYCHOSOCIAL CARE IN THE CONTEXT OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

A REPORT OF AN EXPERIENCE FROM THE TEACHING-SERVICE-COMMUNITY ARTICULATION

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the massive measures adopted to combat it, required an abrupt reorganization of health services, with a view to continuing the actions developed and meeting the population’s new demands for care. This report materializes the experience about the actions developed by Psychology trainees together with the multidisciplinary team of a Psychosocial Care Center for Children and Youth in the metropolitan region of Porto Alegre (RS), in the context of the pandemic, in 2020. The actions are presented in three axes: informative material aimed at families with children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, online group with adolescents and telemonitoring of users. Among the potential of the actions, the strengthening of the teaching-service-community integration, the promotion of psychosocial care for children and adolescents stand out and the development of skills of students in the field of mental health for children and adolescents and their families, in an adverse scenario. Regarding the limits, the lack of familiarity with the technologies, as well as the restriction of social integration resulting from social distancing, were barriers found in the students’ learning process. As for the users benefiting from the developed actions, difficulties in accessing quality technological resources that provide greater interaction and engagement in the developed actions were evidenced.