The care as a protector for the mental health of adolescents

Abstract

This article proposes a reflection on the mental health of adolescents, understanding it as the result of complex interactions between biological, psychological, and social factors. This perspective allows for the consideration of the ethics of care, which advocates for valuing human bonds beyond commercial exchanges, promoting a care practice based on responsibility, mutual attention, and horizontal cooperation—an ethics that aligns a sense of responsibility and attention to others in an interdependent manner, seeking horizontality achieved through cooperation. The article aims to understand how the perspective brought by the ethics of care can contribute to the promotion of adolescent health. Additionally, it seeks to identify the aspects that adolescents relate as negative and positive, as well as the impacts these have on their mental health.

Thus, adopting an ethnographic perspective in the field of health, the research used participant observation as an investigation and data collection technique, prioritizing spontaneous interactions, immersion in the field, and the responsible presence of the researcher. At a later stage, focus groups were conducted with adolescents. The analysis was based on the results of the multi-methodological approach, which included participant observation and focus groups, interpreting what was observed and heard during all stages of the fieldwork.