Mulheres quilombolas, redes de cuidados e a produção de sentidos sobre saúde mental.

Abstract

The historicity of quilombola women is marked by several vulnerabilities, over the years: gender, race and class inequalities, in addition to territorial conflicts. These layers of helplessness point to the intersectional distinctions in which quilombola women find themselves in society. Therefore, it is very common for them to organize themselves into groups, with a view to building supportive mental health care networks. Thus, the proposed project aims to analyze social support networks, mutual aid and mutual support among quilombola women and their contributions to community mental health. The study has a qualitative nature, based on the theoretical-methodological conception of practices and production of meaning, and its participants were 08 women linked to the group “Ciranda das Mulheres Quilombolas do Grilo (PB)”. In operational terms, we developed the research based on the following steps: 1) insertion of the researchers into the “Ciranda das Mulheres Quilombolas do Grilo” group; 2) participant observation of group processes; and 3) application of a sociodemographic questionnaire and a semi-structured interview with guiding questions related to the object of investigation. Collective spaces have made it possible, for this population, to build a network of social support, mutual help and mutual support, given that they are presented as tools, in which they can facilitate the restoration of comprehensive care and women's mental health in the quilombola context.