Comportamento do psicólogo em Instituição de atendimento a deficientes mentais: contribuições da análise do comportamento para construção de uma prática crítica e relevante

Abstract

Current conceptions of mental disabilities and the types of services needed by the mentally disabled point to the need to increase their autonomy and inclusion to the greatest extent possible, in relation to the living conditions of the non-disabled population. In the realm of psychology, despite the existence of knowledge relevant for producing actions compatible with this guideline, what is often observed among psychology professionals are actions related to establishing classifications and remedial interventions for problems that have established themselves, rather than actions that contribute to the effective understanding of the special needs of the mentally disabled, and interventions to promote behaviors that favor inclusion. In order for these changes to occur, relative to the actions of psychologists when attending to the mentally disabled, it is important to identify, describe and analyze behaviors that guarantee a new repertoire of actions for psychologists that work in institutions serving this population, promoting prevention of mental disabilities and maintenance of significant behaviors in psychologists treatment of the mentally disabled. This seems possible, considering existing knowledge regarding human behavior and how to deal with it. Thus, the proposal of this study was to identify and characterize, as environment-action relationships of the organism, behaviors of the psychology professional when acting to treat individuals who are mentally disabled, considering current practice and the available knowledge regarding the needs and challenges of serving this population. Information was gathered on the existing behavior, and desirable behavior, of psychologists in institutions serving the mentally disabled, in order to produce descriptions of the behavioral relationships that define the of professionals in this context. The information was obtained through interviews conducted with the psychologists and other high-level professionals that form part of the teams in two institutions serving the mentally disabled in the interior of the state of São Paulo. Based on this information, descriptions of the behavior of the psychologists were produced as a starting point for a more adequate understanding of their current repertoire and occasional gaps in this repertoire. Information was also obtained from the available literature related to behaviors, or aspects of behaviors, of these professionals that were considered relevant to the treatment of the mentally disabled, in institutional contexts, and compared to the descriptions produced, from the perspective of the interviewees, which then lead to complementation, revision, or even substitution of behaviors previously identified. It is hoped that the knowledge produced as a result of this study may contribute to improved education and training of these professionals, whether in their undergraduate or graduate studies, or the continuing education of professionals in the institutions themselves.