Adolescência: um olhar através das paredes do acolhimento institucional

Abstract

Adolescence has been a subject of interest both in studies in the field of developmental psychology and in social psychology. This study is a qualitative and exploratory research, where the general objective was to investigate how adolescents in shelter conceive this phase of their life inside the shelter, and the specific objectives to ascertain if the participating adolescents have plans for the future, to verify what they would change in the shelter, investigate what the closure of the shelter means, and check with the participating adolescents if there are difficulties in establishing interpersonal relationships within the shelter. The analysis was based on the socio-historical approach that considers adolescence as a historically constructed category. The participants were seven black female adolescents, aged between 12 and 17 years, in the shelter unit Beija Flor, in Nova Iguaçu (RJ). The instrument used was an open questionnaire and the responses were categorized according to the content analysis (Bardin, 2016). The results pointed to the perspective of difficult, abandoned and misunderstood adolescence, revealing that adolescents find it difficult to live this phase of their life in a welcoming unit and in making friendships. They considered the existence of positive and negative aspects in the host unit, they pointed out the need for changes in the physical and psychological environment. Plans for the future permeated by dreams and closure revealed, among participating adolescents, sadness, abandonment, injustice and guilt. Promoting dialogue in institutional reception is essential for understanding what is captured from adolescents' views on adolescence through the walls of institutional reception, serving to expand and cope with the multifaceted forms of adolescent unity