Search

Background: Brazilian immigrants are becoming a more visible minority and, although different from other Latinos (in a linguistic, cultural, historical, and ethnic sense), are usually either counted as Latinos, not included in the Latino samples or simply overlooked in research studies. It is essential to understand the stress and pressures they undergo and appreciate their singular perspective and culturally-infused experiences to meet their needs and improve their mental healthcare and quality of life in the United States., Aim: The aim of this review is to understand and describe the experience of Brazilian immigrants in the U.S., related to mental health, assessing what studies have addressed and what is still needing to be researched., Method: We carried out an integrative review of peer-reviewed articles published between 2011 and 2022 using PychInfo, PubMed, and Proquest, addressing mental health of Brazilian immigrants in the United States., Results: A total of 10 articles were included revealing the interest of a variety of fields and uncovering three themes: (1) mental healthcare needs (especially warmth and understanding of culture), (2) common sources of support and stress in the community and work, and (3) Socioeconomic aspects related to their mental health, including discrimination, work-life balance, neighborhood cohesion, and acculturation., Conclusions: Results may be useful to practitioners, researchers, and policy makers, who should be attentive to client's familiarity with the English language, their sources of support, spirituality, specific Brazilian traits, their feeling of 'being invisible', life in community, and their previous experiences with healthcare in Brazil.

Hearing Voices peer support groups allow people to construct understandings of their voices. The groups focus on supporting voice hearers in reducing distress associated with voices through an array of strategies. This study sought to describe the voice management strategies shared in a hearing voices peer support group within a Brazilian public mental health service. In this qualitative study we recorded 10 group meetings. Transcripts were coded and analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings indicated five themes, described as: (1) strategies used to avoid distressing experiences; (2) strategies for managing the voices; (3) strategies for seeking social support; (4) strategies for creating a sense of belonging in the community; and (5) strategies related to spirituality and religiosity. These strategies appear to be essential in helping voice hearers feel less alone, reducing the amount of distress associated with hearing voices, and developing coping strategies. These groups provide people who hear voices with the opportunity to share their stories with peers in a group setting, construct new understandings about the experience, and learn strategies for managing their voices. Accordingly, there are great possibilities for the use of these groups within mental health services throughout Latin America., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)