“Changing the Game” Program (CTGP) – Overcoming: Psychosocial Intervention for Vulnerable Young People
Programa "Virando o Jogo" (CTGP) – Superação: Intervenção Psicossocial para Jovens em Vulnerabilidade
Programa "Virando el Juego" (CTGP) – Superación: Intervención Psicosocial para Jóvenes Vulnerables
Jaína Linhares Alcantara
Danyelle Nillin Gonçalves
Alesandra de Araújo Benevides
Ricardo Hugo Gonzalez
Universidade Federal do Ceará (UFC)
Raquel Barreira Rolim
Alexandre Kerr Pontes
Mariana López Matias
Universidade de Fortaleza (UNIFOR)
Janaína Oleinik Rosa
Yuri Valentim Carneiro Gomes
Maria Suelly Nogueira Pinheiro
Universidade Federal do Ceará (UFC)
Carla Melo da Escóssia
Governo do Estado do Ceará (GovCE)
Marcia Maria Tavares Machado
Universidade Federal do Ceará (UFC)
Resumo
Objective: To describe the scope of Projeto Virando o Jogo – Programa Superação, based in Fortaleza, CE, and to analyze the profile of young people reached by the intervention project. Methodology: Descriptive study, with analysis of secondary data from JotForms platform, record of interventions carried out by psychologists and social workers, from 2020 to 2022. Interventions were based on the perspective of social psychology and social sciences. Results: A total of 1516 youth were seen and 444 groups, 413 home visits and 72 meetings with caregivers were conducted. The main reason for the psychosocial care was related to emotional disorders, with 171 records (depression+suicidal ideation+anxiety). Conclusion: Qualified listening for young people in large-scale programs provides an understanding of the most relevant problems that hinder their family and social relationships. Interventions with young people and family members in settings of social vulnerability are necessary to minimize internal conflicts and improve socioemotional pattern.
Keywords: youth, young people, epidemiology, innovation programs, social vulnerability
Resumo
Objetivo: Descrever escopo do Projeto Virando o Jogo – Programa Superação, realizado com jovens de 15 à 19 anos fora da escola e do mercado de trabalho formal em Fortaleza, CE, e analisar perfil de atendidos pela intervenção. Metodologia: Estudo descritivo, com análise de dados secundários da plataforma JotForms, registro das intervenções realizadas por psicólogos e assistentes sociais, de 2020 a 2022. Intervenções alicerçadas na perspectiva da psicologia social e ciências sociais. Resultados: Total foram atendidos 1516 jovens e realizados 444 grupos, 413 visitas domiciliares e 72 encontros com cuidadores. Principal motivo para atendimento psicossocial relacionado a transtornos emocionais, com 171 registros (depressão+ideação suicida+ansiedade). Conclusão: Escuta qualificada de jovens propicia a compreensão dos problemas mais relevantes, que dificultam suas relações familiares e sociais. Intervenções inovadoras com jovens e familiares, em situação de vulnerabilidade social, são necessárias para minimizar os conflitos internos e melhorar o padrão socioemocional.
Palavras-chave: juventude, jovens, epidemiologia, programas de inovação, vulnerabilidade social
Resumen
Objetivo: Describir el alcance del Proyecto Virando o Jogo - Programa Superação, realizado con jóvenes de 15 a 19 años fuera de la escuela y del mercado de trabajo formal en Fortaleza, CE, y analizar el perfil de los atendidos por la intervención. Metodología: Estudio descriptivo, analizando datos secundarios de la plataforma JotForms, registrando las intervenciones realizadas por psicólogos y trabajadores sociales de 2020 a 2022. Las intervenciones se basaron en la perspectiva de la psicología social y las ciencias sociales. Resultados: Se atendió a un total de 1.516 jóvenes y se realizaron 444 grupos, 413 visitas domiciliarias y 72 reuniones con cuidadores. El principal motivo de atención psicosocial estuvo relacionado con trastornos emocionales, con 171 registros (depresión+ideación suicida+ansiedad). Conclusión: La escucha cualificada de los jóvenes permite conocer los problemas más relevantes que dificultan sus relaciones familiares y sociales. Intervenciones innovadoras con jóvenes y sus familias en situación de vulnerabilidad social son necesarias para minimizar los conflictos internos y mejorar los niveles socioemocionales.
Palabras clave: juventude, jóvenes, epidemiologia, programas de innovación, vulnerabilidad social
Introduction
Social inequalities and socioeconomic vulnerability have worsened over the last twenty years in Brazil and, with special relevance, during the COVID-19 pandemic (Every Life Matters Committee & ALECE, 2017, 2020; Instituto de Pesquisa e Estratégia Econômica do Ceará [IPECE], 2021; Salata & Ribeiro, 2022). The impoverishment of the Brazilian population with the decline in labor income has hit the poorest 40% hardest, increasing economic inequalities, reflected in the rise in the Gini Index, among other indicators (Salata & Ribeiro, 2022). If, according to scientific evidence, poverty is a modifiable risk factor associated with crime (Ziebold et al., 2022), on the other evidence, the criminal phenomenon is concentrated in adolescence and adulthood (Rolim, 2018). Furthermore, the unemployment rate in the 14 to 24 age group reached 21.1% in the second quarter of 2022, representing more than double the national average rate (9.3%) (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística, 2022). The 2015 National Household Sample Survey (PNAD) showed that the percentage of young people who neither study nor work formally was 24% (Cardoso & Hermeto, 2021). In addition to being outside the school environment and the job market, many of these young people comply with socio-educational measures, reinforcing a continuous circle of adverse circumstances and increased inequalities (Rolim, 2018).
This is not a local problem. The term “Nem- Nem” itself was coined from the English acronym NEET (Youth not in employment, education or training), and refers to young people who are neither employed nor studying or training. According to the annual report of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (2023), it is essential to prevent young people from becoming “Neither ” or to minimize the time they spend being one. After all, this condition makes them lose not only immediate learning and employment opportunities, but also ‘
According to this study, Brazil is the second country, (a total of 37 countries analyzed), with the highest proportion of young people, aged between 18 and 24, who do not study or work, behind only South Africa. 36 % of young Brazilians do not study and are unemployed. In Spain this percentage is 16.5% of young people. In Colombia, in 2022, 33.8% of women between 15 and 29 years old were “Nem- Nem”, while in the case of men the percentage was 16.0%. In Senegal, according to ILO data, the percentage of women is 48.3% and 21.6% for men. In both cases there is a predominance of young women, which is explained by the “gender disparity” and discrimination against women in access to education and the job market and also because family responsibilities are assumed to a greater extent by women. This last explanation also applies to the Brazilian case, added to teenage pregnancy, it impacts the numbers: among young people aged 18 to 24, the percentage of “Nem-Nem” is 21.4% among men and 34.3% among women.
To interrupt this continuous circle, public policies and government programs that aim to strengthen the socio-emotional skills and productive capacities of adolescents and young people are urgent public health problem in Brazil. Interventions that promote mental health and prevent youth risk behaviors have been associated with multiple outcomes – interpersonal skills, emotional regulation, and drug and alcohol use education – for high-income countries (Skeen et al., 2019). Therefore, programs that stimulate life skills, such as family interaction, interpersonal relationships, and stress management, are associated with the reduction of irritability and post-traumatic stress disorder in a population of young people living in low- and middle-income countries (Singla et al., 2020) and with better preparation for the job market (Pereira-Guizzo et al., 2018). Risk situations and vulnerabilities are increased when experienced by adolescents and young people living in neighborhoods with low Human Development Index (HDI).
Although many countries have already addressed the multiple issues that lead young people to be left out of the educational environment and the labor market, scientific articles that deal with this topic in Latin America are abundant (Sánchez, 2021; Balarezo López, 2019; Barriga Clavijo & Castillo Robayo, 2017; Álvarez, 2016; Gutiérrez et al., 2014; Benjet et al., 2011) it is a fact that policies for these groups are still absent or very incipient. In bibliographical research on programs of this type in the region, we found in Uruguay, the “Jóvenes Program en Red”, analyzed by Martino-Bermúdez & López (2017).
In Ceará, Northeast of Brazil, search results from the Institute for Research and Economic Strategy of Ceará (IPECE, 2018) showed that despite the state “presenting a lower indicator than the Northeast, the proportion of Nem-Nem young people has remained higher than the national average”.
Inspired by the “Young People in Exercise” Program (JEPOE), carried out in Carapicuíba, São Paulo, the Government of the State of Ceará, through the actions of “Ceará Pacifico Project”, designed the Changing the Game-Overcoming Program, coordinated directly by the team of the Vice-Governorship of the State from Ceará.
Decree nº 33,377, of November 29, 2019, regulated State Law nº 17,086, of October 25, 2019, establishing the Projeto Virando o Jogo (PVOJ), focusing on the population of young people in situations of social vulnerability, in order to to reinforce protective factors for family members and the community to strengthen citizenship (DOECE, 2019).
Program “changing the game” (CTGP) added, as part of the support design for young people and families, the experience of a psychosocial intervention, operating in peripheral areas of Fortaleza, Ceará, Northeast of Brazil, an intervention of a pilot project in Ceará, called Chief Scientist Program, of the Ceará Research Foundation (FUNCAP) and with funding from the State Fund to Combat Poverty (FECOP), a project was structured to monitor young people enrolled in the (CTGP), carried out by psychologists and social workers, under the coordination and advice from public university professors and professionals experienced in working with young people.
As part of an intervention program with innovative ideas, the actions were constructed as they were carried out and evaluated its effectiveness. As an initial part of this intervention, a fundamental point was professional listening and monitoring the day-to-day lives of young people on the course. The young people were marked by unique family histories, but also by specific characteristics of the community in which they lived, especially in relation to social violence. As psychoanalyst Nazir Hamad describes it, “young people destroy, yes, but in a system that has already destroyed everything. And until these two parties listen to each other, it is impossible to continue recriminating young people, denying them any mitigating circumstances” (Rassial, 2012, p. 92).
This article aims to present the scope of the Program “changing the game”, carried out in the city of Fortaleza, Northeast of Brazil, and describe the profile of young people served by the monitoring program, from 2020 to 2022, pointing out strategies for intervention adopted.
The Program “Changing the Game” (CTGP): Action Methodology
The CTGP has an intersectoral characteristic, having been structured by the team of the Ceará State government program, in partnership with the then Secretariat of Social Protection, Justice, Citizenship, Women and Human Rights (SPS). As part of the training of young people, it has the support of Civil Society Organizations, the National Service for Commercial Learning (SENAC) and the Social Service for Commerce (SESC) and development entities. It seeks, based on the interventions adopted, to cover two main dimensions: the first, to implement actions that reinforce protective factors for young people in vulnerable situations, working on the formation of socio-emotional skills, self-recognition, citizenship training, social skills for work, in addition to entrepreneurship and sports activities. The second seeks to monitor the results of this public policy, to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the project. Therefore, we intend to consolidate a model for monitoring and evaluating this intervention.
The beginning of the intervention project, supported by the Chief Scientist Program (FUNCAP) and the Fund to Combat Poverty (FECOP), took place at the end of November 2019, having been completed in December 2023, when it began to have the support and financing of the project with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). The neighborhoods that comprise this project were selected based on research by IPECE (2018) and referred to regions of the city where the expression of increased vulnerabilities such as young people in the “neither-nor” condition, teenage pregnancy, school dropout, and, mainly, on the number of lethal and intentional violent crimes (CVLI) were recorded at that time.
Young people carry out all their training for seven months, accounting for 324 hours of activities, comprising three phases: 1) citizenship training, 2) community action, and 3) professional training and entrepreneurship.
The first edition of CTGP started in December 2019 and concluded in December 2020 due to the pandemic. The second edition began in May 2021 and concluded in February 2022. The third edition began in November 2021, ending in August 2022.
The work carried out by CTGP has a comprehensive team, made up of administrative agents, community organizers, retired firefighters, and area managers, based on the partnership established with the Social Protection Secretariat (SPS) to provide support throughout the process, from community mobilization in the neighborhoods, the organization of documents for registration, distribution of kits with uniforms, bags, booklets, among other items. Each young person selected, based on the registration completed online, receives a grant from the State Government of Ceará that varies throughout the course between R$200.00 and R$350.00. In addition to these incentives, registrants receive transportation vouchers to help them travel to the locations where the training takes place. Young people's families receive a gas voucher as a social benefit aimed at people in socially vulnerable situations.
Due to the characteristics of the population welcomed by the project, classes take place three times a week. Each meeting lasts 4 hours with activities carried out in the classroom or outdoors. In the last stage of the project, when sports activities were offered, physical activities and professional technical training were accumulated.
Stage 1: Citizenship Training
The “citizen training” phase (100 hours) is facilitated by SENAC professionals. It involves content related to the rights and duties that young citizens need to be aware of, focusing on issues pertinent to youth rights (Taffarel & Beltrão, 2019), in addition to practical classes on the topic of first aid. This moment is mediated by firefighters (monitors), who play a strong partnership in the CTGP.
At the beginning of the citizenship training process, teams of organizers, managers, monitors and mediators (psychologists and social workers) are introduced to young people and explain, in each class, the route to be followed in this phase and which services are available to each integral. Then, individually, they are invited to the “psychosocial welcome” moment, carried out by the team of psychologists and social workers.
In pairs or individually, these professionals carry out the listening, recording, in forms developed in the JotForm’s program, the profile data of young people and their families, as well as the reasons mentioned for problem situations that they perceive in their daily lives. The team provides assistance, guaranteeing the confidentiality of the information collected. All initial questions are asked in order to establish a bond with young people (Brotfeld & Berger, 2020), diagnose living conditions and carry out screening, using the classification model of the main vulnerabilities. Next, the process of case studies begins by the teams (psychologists and social workers), of those classified as very serious and serious, to create a follow-up plan.
This entire process is mediated by a team of project advisors, made up of professors and doctors who provide advice to the Chief Scientist program (FUNCAP) and assist the mediators in conducting the referral criteria for institutions in the public assistance network of the State and the Municipality of Fortaleza (health, social assistance, justice and guarantee of rights and education).
From the third edition onwards, the last class of the citizenship training phase (4h) started to involve the collaboration of the CTGP mediator teams, when they held groups/workshops with each group of young people, focusing on the theme: conflict resolution (De Paula & Branco, 2022), non-violent communication and the culture of peace (Araújo, 2020).
Step 2: Community Action
This stage revealed the potential that each class had, by planning and promoting specific interventions in public spaces in the neighborhoods where they live, demonstrating the recognition of territories, their vulnerabilities and potential. Direct activities are carried out in the places where they live, making it possible to recognize the challenges and possibilities of community life.
The purpose of each “community action” is to encourage protagonism among young people who were often discouraged and even “discredited” by the community where they live.
3rd Stage: Professional Training and Entrepreneurship
Identified as “vocational training and entrepreneurship”, it is carried out both in equipment rooms where young people went through the first and second phases of the project, located in their residential neighborhoods, and at the SENAC headquarters, where courses that require laboratories are held.
It also included the offer of sports activities on various equipment and at SESC, facilitated by physical education professionals. Young people and teenagers enrolled in professional courses, with a prior choice based on the courses offered and the possibility of attending or not attending events outside their home territories, participate in practical activities, such as: barbering, makeup, photography, gastronomy, among others. Some challenges were introduced throughout the editions for young people to remain at this stage: having sports and professional training activities in consecutive shifts; the guarantee of a place on the course that suits the young people's desires and activity times that coincide with school classes (for those who have reintegrated into school).
At the end of the training and technical training, young people who completed the professional and entrepreneurship phase received the SENAC technical certificate, as well as statements related to each phase completed. In addition, the CVs of graduates were forwarded to job advertisement banks (CIEE, Sine/IDT, among others). The remaining young people who did not complete all the stages were provided with a statement specifying which stages they completed.
Design of the Intervention by Mediators (Psychologists and Social Workers)
Figure 1
Flowchart of the Psychosocial Intervention, Program “Changing the Game” (CTGP). Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil, 2024
Two conceptual bases anchored psychosocial monitoring interventions: the first was the strengthening of family skills; second, learning socio-emotional skills (Araújo, 2020). Combined, they involve knowledge and actions that must be encouraged among young adolescents, as well as their families. Family competencies are the knowledge, knowledge and skills added to the affection and attitudes and practices of families, which facilitate and promote the survival, development, protection and participation of children up to 6 years of age (UNICEF, 2008). The presentation of socio-emotional skills and the constitution of their competencies among young people were purposes that guided the teams of mediators in the field, whether in activities carried out in groups or in moments of individual listening and guidance.
Experiences of self-awareness were used through meditation and yoga practices aimed at all actors involved: facilitators, adolescents, young people and family members. This practice brought values, physical-mental balance and self-control to people, through conscious movements of the body, mind and breath control, directly influencing the training process. Studies in education and neurosciences (Harris et al., 2019; Piagentini & Camargo, 2018) present the contributions of these practices at all ages, especially with young people, favoring a humanized, integral and integrative education, essential for today.
The areas (set of aggregated neighborhoods), where actions were carried out in the first phases of the project, were located in urban regions considered vulnerable, neighborhoods where they have the worst Human Development Indexes (HDI) in Fortaleza (Prefeitura de Fortaleza, 2010; IPECE, 2018).
The psychosocial intervention actions were structured according to this theoretical framework and the dynamics of opening the areas of activity, defined by the Vice-Governorship. It should be noted that, in the 1st edition, with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, adjustments were necessary in the process of monitoring young people, when some intervention models were tested (feasibility test) to evaluate how psychosocial care could be provided via videoconference. This required the development of specific strategies and attitudes for managing work and interacting with the public of teenagers, young people and their families.
For citizen training and community action activities, a team was hired that used the Edulivre platform, consolidating the trails, whose contents could be accessed remotely, with tutorials to encourage access and execution of activities and exercises. The team of mediators (professionals from the social and human sciences - psychology and social work) needed to connect with methodologies and tools that could be used (online format) to provide reception, carry out listening and referrals. Applications and digital platforms were used to maintain the interface through smartphones, tablets and computers.
At this stage, different ways were sought to diagnose the main vulnerabilities faced by young people and their families, as well as strategies to motivate them to return to school (those who had dropped out), to formally enter the market of work (technical training) and later find professional positions that would bring them a dignified life. It was an opportunity to approach young people from the project who had already completed high school with public or low-cost courses, preparatory to the exam to access higher education. Through psychosocial listening, the teams received feedback on referrals made to public service services.
Figure 2
Service Flowchart
The intervention methodology offered listening and guidance from psychologists and social workers who initially served to put together the case monitoring plan, dividing cases into levels of vulnerability: very serious, severe, moderate and mild.
The protocol used was through registration forms, using the JotForm platform. All forms were created with the participation of the management and intervention team, being modified and adapted as they were used. The records made it possible to effectively monitor each case and its evolution, noting the reduction of risks and vulnerabilities in some cases. The monitoring of adolescents and young people involved the institutions in which the young people were hosted (Institutional Receptions).
The Management Protocol
The has a team of researchers and teachers with the role of advisors to the coordination of research and intervention projects (13 doctors, 09 masters from the University of Fortaleza and Federal University of Ceará), financed within the scope of the Chief Scientist Program (FUNCAP). The intervention of attentive listening and welcoming of young people participating in the PVOJ is coordinated by a professor with a doctorate – Chief Scientist – linked to the State Secretariat for Social Action and Protection and six advisors.
Throughout the three editions of CTGP with young people, the team of advisors was responsible for holding meetings with family members, caregivers and guardians of young people enrolled in the project in each edition, writing guidelines on listening and monitoring protocols, in addition to writing articles scientific, bringing results of the processes analyzed at each stage of the project implemented in Fortaleza, CE. In this sense, the intervention project advisors provided advice to the coordination, prepared reports, research projects, technical guidelines and scientific articles, together with texts for internal communication in the project; carried out selection and training of professionals; coordinated and participated in management and planning meetings; modeled intervention scripts; they organized the entry flow of records, held thematic debates or organized training sessions with external guests and monitored the interventions carried out by the team of psychologists and social workers through case studies and records.
Figure 3
Activities Related to the Program “Changing the Game” (CTGP): Intervention. Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil, 2024
The organization and coordination of the systematic work provided for three internal activities between advisors and the mediation team: The first involved area meetings, which focused on the theme of the work carried out in the week in which they were carried out, highlighting the challenges and resolutions evaluated as a team. The second covered case study meetings, in which area managers were present and participated in the guidance given to serious and very serious cases, according to the Vulnerability Matrix classification. The third refers to the formative dialogues that were suggested based on critical situations, involving the project's public, and narrated by the mediators, in area meetings, held weekly. Sometimes, experts were invited and exposed themes related to the universe with which situations could gain depth, enhancing responses in line with scientific evidence. This dialogue brought up topics of interest to the teams, making it a meeting for updating, reflecting and debating proposals for actions in the territories.
Throughout the three editions, the area teams adapted and, finally, became responsible for publicizing, inviting and registering young people in the places where the project was based, in the different neighborhoods of the city. From the third edition onwards, they began to check whether the young people who joined the project were enrolled in schools, as this issue had been neglected in the two previous editions. This process was necessary to pass on the know-how to the actors in each area, planning and adapting the demands for the activities to be adopted in each area. However, as it was an intervention that was in the process of being implemented, in these three editions the strategies for evaluating the implementation and results of the intervention were being outlined for application in the 5th edition of the project.
Main Results
Since the intervention began, in July 2020 until August 2022, three editions were held that served 1516 young people. This secondary data analysis project was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Federal University of Ceará with registration number: 5,737,616.
The main results of the psychosocial intervention are presented below, considering the number of receptions carried out, the socioeconomic profile of the young people, the areas of intervention in Fortaleza, the level of vulnerability, the percentage of school reintegration per edition and the training of bond with professionals between editions.
Figure 4
Graph of the Quantity of Psychosocial Receptions Carried out in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Editions of the Project Turning the Game – Overcoming. Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil, 2024.
The profile of young people in the first edition indicates that the majority were female (56.4%), considered themselves mixed race (62.9%), were between 18 and 19 years old (54.3%) and had a fairly high level of education. heterogeneous, with 38.7% having completed primary education (complete or incomplete) and 31.9% having completed secondary education. In the second edition, it was noticed that the majority of young people were female, with an increase in public participation (61.2%), 64.3% declared themselves mixed race, 51.3% were aged between 18 and 19 years old, with a greater homogeneity in educational level (44.8% with complete secondary education and only 18.2% with complete or incomplete primary education). In the third edition, the majority remained female (58.5%) and 46.52% had completed high school.
According to the vulnerability matrix, 54.7% of cases treated in the first edition were mild or moderate, while 32.2% were serious. Very serious cases represented 13.1% of consultations. The main demands met by the teams of psychologists and social workers (mediators) showed that 9.1% of the problems were related to school dropout/reintegration; 8.9% indicated deep sadness or suspected depression and 3.8% reported fragility in family ties.
Similarly, in the second edition, the majority of cases were also mild or moderate (61.8%), while very serious cases were 37.2%. This increase in serious cases is reflected in the increase in demand met, which sought to listen to psychologists and social workers in this second edition. The fragility of family ties (7.8%), deep sadness/depression (7.6%), followed by reports of economic vulnerability (6%) were the main reasons for seeking care in the second edition.
In the third edition, the most reported cases were self-harm, suicidal ideation, attempted suicide (8.45%); limitation of circulation in the territories (5.91%) and recreational and/or abusive use of other drugs (5%).
Regarding the percentage of school reintegration, According to information reported by the Vice-Governor's team, 36.9% of young people from the first edition, 38.81% from the second edition and 37.74% from the third edition were reinserted into school, whether in regular education or in programs such as Youth and Adult Education (EJA) or (CEJA).
Regarding the intervention protocol, the team of advisors and mediators observed that, when applying it, at the beginning of each edition, when group activities and the initial reception of young people took place, there was better bond formation, awakening greater confidence and opening for dialogues that occurred throughout the follow-ups carried out.
It is important to highlight the notion of adolescence as a passage. Jean-Jacques Rassial (1997) addresses the crucial changes and transformations that a teenager must go through to deal with internal conflicts, natural to development. It is the process of separation from parents, bonding and identifying with their peers. Therefore, they are vulnerable to forming groups. The adults in this project therefore play a crucial role in establishing secure bonds, which will drive meetings between other young people in the project who will establish potentially healthy social bonds. The young organizers of the Project are like tutors, a source of admiration and respect, as they are from the community, thus another possibility of identification. Going through adolescence is a kind of “psychic birth”, according to Rassial (1997).
Final Considerations
The program “changing the game” (CTGP), worked on three editions of attentive listening interventions, reception and referrals of cases of young people and adolescents in vulnerable situations over the last three years. The mediation teams, made up of psychologists and social workers, accompanied by advisors from the Chief Scientist Program (FUNCAP), served young people from the outskirts of Fortaleza, in five administrative areas, covering 23 neighborhoods of the capital.
The support given in this intervention seeks to break the vicious circle of lack of professional perspective, lack of interest in school and co-optation of adolescents and young people into crime. One of the great strategies for change is the return of these young people to the school environment or even directing them to the job market, since education reduces crime and these can be important tools to mitigate disruptive behavior.
The program “changing the game” (CTGP), through its reception intervention, shows that there is a high potential to positively impact the levels of tension experienced by young people, improving self-esteem, reducing emotional disorders and bringing those who dropped out back to school.
Monitoring young people requires work that articulates multiple social networks such as school, health, family and friendship and work bonds. The strategy of qualified listening to young people was used, the formation of bonds between young people in the community, working on themes such as bullying, structural racism, non-violent communication, affective network, self-care, respect and notions of citizenship.
Holanda brings the reflection that “adolescent care must be thought of and acted in an intersectoral way, so that the subject can circulate in different instances without being taken only by stigmas and moral actions”. A constant work built on a daily basis with these young people who are eager for change, but do not even allow themselves to project themselves into something new. The biggest challenge is getting young people to dream and realize a life beyond the blocks that close off their possibilities of detachment in a territory marked by a 'life of crime'” (Holanda, 2023, p. 162).
Family members, caregivers, teachers, psychologists and social workers play a fundamental role in reducing the psychosocial effects of vulnerable situations experienced by young people, welcoming and referring young people who have specific health demands (depression, suicidal ideation, deep sadness). A care network that was being built through articulation with the existing state network, but also with the private network, for example university health clinics. In Brazilian public policies, these care actions cannot exist in an uncoordinated way. When multiple networks are articulated, there is an expanded care network.
After three years of joint and interdisciplinary work, it is possible to indicate three main limitations of the CTGP, throughout the three editions, monitored by the intervention team: 1st, the concomitance of two editions, for a few months, which made better monitoring difficult cases, given that the arrival of many young people to be welcomed diverted the attention of the mediator team from one class to another.
Furthermore, the meetings promoted by the project with family members and people of reference for the young people had little or no participation from the guests, despite being invited over the two weeks preceding the meetings. The average attendance was three mothers/guardians per meeting. The exception occurred in one of the places, where meetings brought together a greater number of caregivers and family members. This other difficulty may be related to the delay in scholarships to be paid to young people, which affects the income for their families and a lack of interest in participating in the events to which they are invited.
The third limitation of the intervention is the situations perceived as challenging by the mediators throughout the different phases of project formation. Contexts of armed conflicts and urban violence affected everyone who lived in these conflict-ridden communities. Some young people sought to move between territories, when the professionalization phase began (at the SENAC headquarters, far from the neighborhoods where these teenagers and young people live). Added to this is the tension of having to move between territories, dominated by different factions, which were brought up in meetings with young people and caregivers. The risks and reports of loss of life among young people monitored by the CTGP, raised the assessment of the professionals themselves about the risk of death, as they were working in places where conflicts between factions are expressed in a radical way in the city.
As CTGP’s vision of the future, it is necessary to implement monitoring of these young people, for subsequent evaluation of the effectiveness of the project and the impact of this type of intervention and family monitoring. The integration of a dialogue program between academia (through the Chief Scientist Program) and the State Action Protection Secretariat, indicated a level of cooperation, based on the feasibility test, of an intervention project with young people and their families. families, targeting public management.
This way, it is possible to visualize the strengths and weaknesses that must be analyzed, before the large-scale applicability of the project, making the public resource applied more feasible, in terms of cost-benefit.
Thanks
We thank the Department of Social Protection of the State of Ceará (SPS); Office of the State Vice Governor; FUNCAP; the team of mediators, psychologists and social workers who worked directly with young people in the editions; to managers, supervisors, monitors and coordinators who were directly linked to the team of advisors and coordination of the intervention.
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Received on October 10th, 2023
Last review on March 19th, 2024
Final acceptance on April 10th, 2024
About the authors:
Jaína Linhares Alcântara: [Contact author]. PhD in Social Sciences from the Federal University of Bahia. Master in Social Anthropology from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte. Bachelor in Social Sciences from the State University of Ceará. Substitute professor in the Department of Social Sciences at the Federal University of Ceará. Researcher with a scholarship from the Chief Scientist Program, FUNCAP – CE – Virando o Jogo Project. E-mail: jainalc@gmail.com, Orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4069-7565
Danyelle Nilin Gonçalves: PhD and Master in Sociology from the Federal University of Ceará (UFC). Graduated in Social Sciences from UFC. Professor at UFC, Department of Social Sciences. Researcher with a scholarship from the Chief Scientist Program, FUNCAP-CE. E-mail: danynilin@yahoo.com.br, Orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9353-054X
Alesandra de Araújo Benevides: PhD in Economics from the Federal University of Ceará (UFC). Master in Economics and a degree in Social Communication from UFC. PhD Professor at UFC, Sobral Campus. Postdoctoral fellow, Chief Scientist Program, FUNCAP. E-mail: alesandra@ufc.br, Orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7354-5632
Ricardo Hugo Gonzalez: PhD in Public Health from the Federal University of Ceará. Master in Human Movement Sciences from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS). Specialist in Aquatic Activities from UNOPAR. Graduated in Full Degree in Physical Education from the United Faculties of Administration, Accounting and Economic Sciences of Palmas - Parana. Researcher with a scholarship from the Chief Scientist Program, FUNCAP – CE, Virando o Jogo Project. E-mail: rhugogonzalez@yahoo.com.br, Orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8447-4224
Raquel Barreira Rolim: Post-doctorate with a CNPq/FUNCAP research scholarship for Scientific and Regional Development, linked to the Department of Postgraduate Studies in Psychology at the Federal University of Ceará. PhD in Psychology "Psychopathology and Psychanalysis" from the Université Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris. Master in Psychology "Clinical Practices of the Body and Psychanalytic Anthropology" from the University of Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris. Graduated in Psychology from the University of Fortaleza. Researcher with a scholarship from the Chief Scientist Project - FUNCAP - CE, Virando o Jogo Project. E-mail: raquelbrolim@gmail.com, Orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0095-8425
Alexandre Kerr Pontes: PhD (sandwich modality) from the University of the Republic of Uruguay (UDELAR) with the Historical and Political Foundations of Practices in Psychology Program. PhD in Psychology from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). Master in Psychology from the Federal University of Ceará (UFC). Graduated in Psychology from UFC. Researcher with a scholarship from the Chief Scientist Program, FUNCAP – CE, Virando o Jogo Project. E-mail: akerrp@gmail.com, Orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4913-9452
Mariana López Matias: PhD in Social Policy from the University of Brasília (UNB), with a Sandwich Doctorate Internship/CAPES at Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada. Master in Social Work from the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE). Specialist in City Management and Social Projects from the State University of Ceará (UECE). Social Worker from UFPE. Researcher with a scholarship from the Virando o Jogo Project – FUNCAP. E-mail: marianalopez@unifor.br, Orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5397-7470
Janaina Oleinik Moura Rosa: Master in Computer Science from PUC-Rio with research experience at EPFL (École Polytechnique Federale de Laussane, Switzerland). Graduated in Computer Engineering from Universidad Catolica Nuestra Senora de La Asunción. Specialist in Data Analysis and founder of Nex2me. Researcher with a scholarship from the Virando o Jogo Project – FUNCAP. E-mail: janaina@nex2me.com.br, Orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2729-4355
Yuri Valentim Carneiro Gomes: Undergraduate in Medicine from the Federal University of Ceará (UFC). Scholarship holder of the Virando o Jogo Project. E-mail: yurivalentimcg@alu.ufc.br, Orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5913-8758
Maria Suelly Nogueira Pinheiro: Undergraduate in Medicine at the Federal University of Ceará (UFC). Grant holder of the Virando o Jogo Project. E-mail: msuellynogueirap@gmail.com, Orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3824-3166
Carla Melo da Escóssia: PhD in Sociology from the Federal University of Ceará. Master's degree in Sociology from the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales. Bachelor's degree in Social Work from the State University of Ceará. Special Advisor to the Governor, Government of the State of Ceará, Fortaleza, CE. E-mail: carlamelodaescossia.ce@gmail.com, Orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7294-1913
Marcia Maria Tavares Machado: Post-doctorate at the Harvard School of Public Health. PhD in Community Health Nursing from the Federal University of Ceará (UFC). Master's degree in Public Health and bachelor's degree in Nursing from UFC. Associate Professor in the Department of Public Health, School of Medicine, Federal University of Ceará. Chief Scientist (SPS), FUNCAP. E-mail: marciamachado@ufc.br, Orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0149-5792