O abandono ao tratamento entre pacientes assistidos em um Centro de Atenção Psicossocial

Objective: this study evaluated the level of treatment drop-out among patients from a Psychossocial Care Unit at the city of Uberaba, MG, in the year of 2007. Method: this is a field research based on documents. Results: authors mainly identified male patients, with mental disorders and age ranging from 20 to 29 years, who drop-out treatment more frequently. The drop out index (3,7%) was inferior to the one found in the literature (39.2%) and the most evident cause was the lack of adaptation to the therapy proposed at the mental health community services. Final Considerations: nursing performance in mental health services is being orgnanized considering the humanization of care, what seems to influence to decrease treatment drop-out. Therefore, it is very important that nurses add their interpersonal communication competencies to technical skills