MENTAL HEALTH OF THE REMAINING BLACK POPULATION OF QUILOMBOS: AN INTEGRATIVE LITERATURE REVIEW

Abstract

Mental health problems are a public health problem at a global level, with Brazil being the country with the highest prevalence of depression, in addition to being the second most prevalent in the Americas (WHO, 2022). However, mental health problems do not occur homogeneously throughout the population, and the populations are more vulnerable from a social point of view, at the mercy of a more accentuated morbidity and mortality process. From this perspective, the remaining black population of quilombos, intersected by systemic racism, invisibility and social inequalities, are more prone to development and incidence of mental health problems. The objective of this study was to highlight in the Brazilian scientific literature the impact on the mental health of black people remaining in quilombos. This is an integrative literature review study with a qualitative approach. The PICO strategy was used to develop the study. The guiding question was established: what is the scientific evidence on the impact of mental health on the remaining quilombo population in Brazil? The platforms used for the research were Google Scholar and Scientific Electronic Library Online (Scielo), with the descriptors: "mental health", "black population" and "quilombola", using the Boolean operator AND. For sample analysis, the stages of analytical, critical and detailed reading of the texts were followed. 04 studies were excluded when the inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied, and 04 were used to compose the present study. The results showed that social and economic indicators are related to the health and mental well-being of individuals. Thus, the black population belonging to quilombola communities carries the worst indicators when thinking about access, morbidity and mortality due to various health problems, especially with regard to mental health. The process of enslavement and then abandonment by social policies oppresses this population to such an extent that it compromises their survival and strategies for facing life. Structural racism permeates the life and health conditions of this population. Furthermore, as it is a minority group within the black Brazilian population, which faces social, economic and racial inequalities, the existing gap in data and studies that deal with this theme is highlighted, pointing to an epistemological invisibility around its dynamics and the consequences on the health of this population. Finally, the need to strengthen the health care policy for the remaining black population in quilombos in Brazil.