An examination of the (dis)articulation of the child and adolescent psychosocial care network in pandemic times

Abstract Despite the advances in child and Youth mental health care, various weaknesses deserve to be glimpsed. The social isolation to contain the advances of COVID-19 brought aggravating factors to this care. This study aimed to identify and analyze network-based mental health care for children and adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic from the perspective of professionals working in a Child and Adolescent psychosocial care center. This qualitative research was based on the Complex Paradigm. Data was collected through minimal maps of the institutional social network, focus groups and semi-structured interviews with eleven professionals from a city in São Paulo in 2021. Reflective thematic analysis was used for thematic analysis. Two categories emerged: “Impacted well”: contextualizing child and adolescent mental health care in pandemic times; “Everything is health, everything is CAPS”: looking at the psychosocial care network for children and adolescents in pandemic times. Despite the negative impacts of the pandemic on the mental health of children, adolescents and their families, the construction of care was fragmented, with a medium, low-density, geographically dispersed and heterogeneous network. This neglected care during the Brazilian pandemic needs to be reconsidered and reorganized to promote psychosocial construction.