Gaining Autonomy & Medication Management, from Quebec to Brazil: a participatory commitment

Abstract

This article presents the context and construction of the Brazilian version of the Gaining Autonomy & Medication Management Guide (GAM-BR) compared to Quebec’s original Guide. The GAM-BR Guide resulted from a partnership between Brazil and Canada, which transposed the Quebec instrument to the Brazilian context through multicenter research to empower mental health users in the negotiation of their drug treatment. This process was more than an adaptation as it transformed the original Guide into a Brazilian instrument. The main changes were replacing ‘I’ with ‘you’ as the subject of the statements in the Guide, further developing the theme of rights, suppressing the guidelines for the progressive withdrawal of medication. Additionally, the group device became immanent to the Brazilian GAM strategy. Far from being a betrayal, this set of changes remains loyal to the participatory and co-managerial process that oriented the elaboration of the GAM at its origin as an embodiment of Quebec’s typical democratic and citizen experience. Therefore, this article aims to analyze the production of the GAM strategy’s effects of in Brazil, considering its democratic experience and the psychiatric reform in the country.