Adult Reception Unit: a look at the transitional residential service for alcohol and other drug users

Abstract

This research aimed to give visibility to the Adult Reception Units, in order to provide greater quality and context to the production of knowledge about it. From an exploratory case study on an Adult Reception Unit, located in the state of Rio de Janeiro, as a transitory residential health service for users of alcohol and/or other drugs. Participatory observation techniques, documentary surveys and open interviews with users and professionals were used for data collection. A description of the structure of this service, its operation and relationship with other services, and the territory in which it is inserted is presented. Based on the results, it can be said that the UAA is a territorial-based service that follows the logic of psychosocial care, considering the subjectivity and context of each user, affirming itself as a care modality that opposes the logic of confinement and prohibitionism of the ‘therapeutic communities’, which has been advancing widely. It was also seen that the UAA enables changes in the forms of relationship between the community and the users of psychoactive substances.