Health care workers’ concept of characteristics of crack users treated at a psychosocial care center

Abstract

Crack use is a growing, multifactorial public health problem and presents challenges to health care workers. This study aimed to understand how a mental health team conceives of the characteristics of crack users treated in a psychosocial care center (CAPS) in the Brazilian public health care network. This is an evaluative, qualitative case study, developed with eight health care professionals who are members of a CAPS team. According to the team, there are three characteristics that define the crack users who receive care at the CAPS: 1) they require urgent care; 2) they are difficult to manage, and have low adherence to the service; and 3) they do not have a defined profile. The article concludes that it is necessary to recognize that crack users have different health care needs that require reorganization and questioning of practices in order to attend to this new reality.