Group strategies oriented to family members of people with needs resulting from the use of psychoactive substances: a narrative review

Abstract

The study presents and discusses trends of group strategies regarding the families of people who make harmful use of psychoactive substances treated in mental health services and identifies the theoretical perspectives adopted, their modeling and role in the organization of care process. The narrative review was developed from reading articles and chapters of specialized books in Portuguese. The BVS, BVS Psychology, SciELO and Lilacs databases were consulted, and six articles and three book chapters were selected. From the identified contents the following thematic fields were defined: the context of group strategy development, theoretical perspective, modeling of strategies and the role of group strategies in health care to these families. The main theoretical and technical anchorages identified were the psychoeducational strategies and the support and expansion of social relational network. It discusses the importance and potential of these strategies in the care of families, how they respond to the needs of expansion of access of the families to the services, to social and emotional support and to understanding the harmful use of psychoactive substances and its treatments. The choice and adoption of methodologies of group strategies should happen through the thinking processes of the teams, considering the needs presented by the family. It should also be based on the recognition of their life histories and the uniqueness of the individual, avoiding an exclusively interventionist look at the disease and prioritizing the production of bonds and autonomy.