Health/mental health practices and care production during the Covid-19 pandemic

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper is related to two institutional scientific research projects, which research on mental health care practices during the Covid-19 pandemic. The aim of this paper is to describe and analyze health and mental health practices focused on maintaining the assistance bonds and strengthening of care-producing networks in the context of pandemic, developed in the Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires, Argentina. This exploratory and descriptive study uses qualitative techniques for data collection and analysis. Several core issues of characterization and analysis of experience are addressed based on the reconstruction of four brief experiences from our own professional practice. It is concluded that these practices recover the perspective of health and mental health care through the humanization of the bond and the inclusion of the affective dimension in mental health care practices. From very diverse institutional territories and through flexible and creative interventions, these practices have managed to maintain participatory processes, consolidate interdisciplinary approaches and strengthen community care networks in an exceptional and complex context.