Abstract

CATALDO, Rocio; LIBERATORE, Gustavo  and  HERMOSILLA, Ana María. Application of Mental Health Law 26.657: A view from the training of psychologists at the National University of Mar del Plata. Interdisciplinaria [online]. 2018, vol.35, n.2, pp.277-289. ISSN 1668-7027.

New ways of conceiving practices in the area of health have been manifested in recent years with the enactment of a series of laws that modify professional practices. The National Law 26.657 (LSM) represented this change specifically in the area of Mental Health. Both the conceptualization of notions such as mental health, diagnosis, true and imminent risk, interdiscipline, as well as the proposed approach, tend towards the recognition and respect of the rights of patients. That is, a central place in the treatment of physical illnesses and mental disorders is given back to subjectivities . In this context of change, the formation of human resources, including psychologists, appears as a central requirement for its effective application. Formation, in a broad sense, includes not only the specific knowledge that psychologists must possess, but also values and a vision of man as a subject of law. The theme is related to three fundamental levels: legal, ethical and deontological. In this case, a study on the training of psychologists at the National University of Mar del Plata (UNMdP) is proposed, in relation to the principles, policies and devices established in compliance with the Mental Health Law 26.657. The investigation was of a qualitative-quantitative type with a transversal non-experimental design of exploratory-descriptive type. The methodology used included, in the first place, the documentary analysis of the teaching programmes of the subjects that make up the course curriculum. Thirty-one subjects in the curriculum of the Psychology Department of the UNMdP were considered for the analysis and a data structure was designed that contemplated the different aspects from which a bibliographic corpus can be analyzed taking into account the set of variables necessary for a coherent representation of the field. Finally, ten categories were created for the analysis of the programs. They arise from the nodal chapters and themes in the Law: (1) Interdisciplinarity, (2) Human Rights (3) Law of Mental Health / Mental Health (4) Community Psychology (5) Institutional Psychology (6) Patients (7) Disability (8) Drug (9) Devices (10) Standards and Treaties: in human rights and mental health. The second phase consisted in the application of a quantitative instrument, with the purpose of collecting information as regards the opinion of the students in the last year of the course of study with respect to their training. The sample was non-probabilistic of incidental type of anonymous and voluntary participation. The questionnaire was administered to 48 students who were enrolled in the last year of the Psychology Degree at the National University of Mar del Plata. An instrument consisting of a questionnaire combined with a Semantic Differential Scale was constructed, and the questionnaire was administered to students who were specifically studying one of the last 4 subjects: Clinical Psychology, Educational Psychology, Labor Psychology or Legal Psychology. Informed consent was obtained from the explanation of the objectives of the research, and the voluntariness of the participation and the disposition of the results for those who want to consult them was clarified. It is expected that the contributions of the study carried out are significant in order to analyze the situation of our university course in relation to the subject. The research seeks to represent a first diagnostic approach to what the situation in the course of Psychology in the UNMDP is, to know the reality from which it starts, and on which the new contributions and challenges will be built.

Keywords : Health Mental; Law 26657; Training; Psychology; Psychologists.

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