For about a year now, Brazil has been facing an arduous fight against the coronavirus. The pandemic accentuated social vulnerabilities and caused thousands of Brazilians to lose their income and with it the guarantee of food, housing, health, among other basic rights. The reality is brought to light in a discussion about the relevance of Social Security in this context, in the article “The relevance of Social Security in times of pandemic: an analysis of the social implications for families and Social Services”, jointly authored by residents of the Santos Dumont Institute (ISD) Anna Beatriz Valentim, Arilene Lisboa, Círia Germano and Juciara Gomes, and the Multiprofessional Social Worker Preceptor, Alexandra Lima. 

The research was highlighted in the scientific journal Brazilian Journal of Health Review and points out that the current situation denounces the levels of vulnerability of thousands of Brazilians and problematizes the difficulties encountered by the population in search of the benefit of Emergency Aid, in addition to bringing reflections on the performance of Social Service professionals in this area. Click here to read the article in full. 

For social worker Alexandra Lima, “the socioeconomic situation of the individual and their family can generate vulnerabilities in different spheres, its consequences can interfere with the performance of different professional categories, among them, social work, which is part of security policies with the commitment to act in the interests of the population”.

The National Household Sample Survey (Pnad), from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), endorses what Alexandra says. 13.4 million Brazilians are unemployed. It is the highest annual average of unemployed people since the survey began in 2012. 

Social Workers and Work in the Pandemic 

As a result of the health crisis that the world is facing, the authors point out in the article the precariousness of the job market for social workers in general and cite a decrease in labor rights, lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) and lack of training as some of the main problems faced throughout Brazil. 

“The consequences of the pandemic and the lack of preparation to deal with this reality in several areas, interfere with the performance of several professional categories, including social work. Reflection on these consequences must have a prominent place in the reorganization of professional practice”, says Alexandra Lima.

Teaching and research 

The article is signed mostly by residents of the Multiprofessional Residency in Health Care for Persons with Disabilities, a pioneering postgraduate program in comprehensive health care for people with disabilities in Brazil. One of the pillars of Residency training is the encouragement of research and the construction of scientific knowledge. In 2020, students on the Institute’s postgraduate courses – Master's in Neuroengineering  and Multiprofessional Residency – developed and published 47 scientific productions, including articles, book chapters and scientific dissemination videos. 

Regarding the protagonism of students in training, the preceptor who conducted the study says that “it is important to encourage the protagonism of professionals in the process of specialization and the structure of the Residency provides opportunities for the constant teaching-learning process among its members”. “The published study is the result of a continuous practice of approaching the daily lives of users served in practice scenarios in dialogue with the theory that guides this training”, concludes Alexandra. 

Residence 

The Multiprofessional Residency in Health Care for People with Disabilities has been offered by ISD since 2018. The program's main field of activity is: Center for Health Education and Research Anita Garibaldi and the Specialized Center for Physical, Hearing and Intellectual Rehabilitation (CER III), at ISD. 

ISD is a reference in maternal and child health, people with disabilities, neurosciences and neuroengineering. Service to the population is offered through the Unified Health System (SUS) and, in the CER, includes people with refractory epilepsy; Parkinson's; Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD); spinal cord injury; microcephaly; hearing deficiency; prematurity and neurogenic bladder. This is the first CER in the Northeast of Brazil with operations integrated into a research and innovation system through joint work with the Edmond and Lily Safra International Institute of Neuroscience.