The Role of Social Support for Patients with Mental Disorders in Primary Care in Brazil.

The aim of this article was to identify the health care providers and other agencies in a given region where psychiatric patients included in the study reside. In addition, we evaluated how these patients perceive social support for specific needs related to mental health. This study was carried out using fieldwork and face-to-face semistructured interviews with 25 patients who were receiving psychiatric treatment through primary health care. We performed structural analysis of the data focusing on relationship structure. We identified that a significant number of health care providers were involved with the patients; however, some of them were ignored by patients interviewed. Participants cited mostly general practitioners, psychiatrists, and nurses, as professional references.