EVALUATION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF PSYCHOSOCIAL CARE CENTERS (CAPS) IN REDUCING PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITALIZATIONS IN THE BRAZILIAN UNIFIED HEALTH SYSTEM (SUS)

Abstract

The Psychosocial Care Centers (Centros de Atenção Psicossocial — CAPS) constitute the main device of the Psychosocial Care Network of the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS) for replacing the asylum model with a territorial logic of care. This study analyzes the effectiveness of CAPS in reducing psychiatric hospitalizations in the SUS, examining the organizational, financial, and clinical factors that condition this relationship. The research adopts a qualitative approach, of a bibliographic and documentary nature, with a systematic survey of literature published between 2018 and 2025 in the Scielo, LILACS, PubMed, and CAPES Periodicals Portal databases. The results indicate that the quantitative expansion of CAPS is associated with a reduction in hospitalization rates, but that this relationship is mediated by adequate financing, territorial coverage, and articulation with the other points of the network. The study concludes that the effectiveness of CAPS depends on structural conditions that the mere creation of services does not guarantee, and that the underfunding of the community network represents the main obstacle to the consolidation of the Brazilian Psychiatric Reform. The findings reinforce that the transition from the asylum model to community care is not completed by normative acts alone; it requires sustained investment in human resources, infrastructure, and inter-sectoral coordination. Future research should prioritize longitudinal analyses of hospitalization rates in municipalities with different levels of CAPS coverage, generating evidence with greater explanatory power about the relationship between network expansion and the reduction of psychiatric institutionalization in Brazil.