II SEMINAR DISCUSS THE DIVERSITY OF RESEARCH IN PSYCHOLOGY

“Being a researcher is a little different from being in the classroom, where we deal with authors like Freud and others. We deal with the already known. To be a researcher is to live with the unknown and master it”. Thus, the student of the 8th semester of Psychology at Escola Bahiana de Medicina e Saúde Pública, Carlos Vinícius Melo, defines what his dedication to research is. Along with 120 other people, including undergraduate, graduate and professors, he participated in the II Research Seminar in Psychology that the Center for Graduate Studies in Psychology at Bahiana held on the 21st and 22nd of August. 

The opening of the meeting, which took place on the morning of the 21st, at the Academic Unit of Brotas, was attended by professors Rosália Correia Dias, coordinator of the Psychology course, Marilda Castelar, Maria Antonieta Araújo, Josineide Alves and Mirela Figueiredo Iriart. Students who were part of the organizing committee of the Seminar were also present, which included enrollments from students from the Bahiana and from other universities in Salvador.

With the theme “Research Diversity in Psychology”, the Seminar had as its first programming activity the teleconference “Education for Human Rights and the contributions of Psychology: regional highlights”, broadcast from Brasília by the Federal Council of Psychology.

Coordinated sessions
During the two days, ten coordinated sessions were held in which 29 works by undergraduate, graduate and professors researchers were presented. According to Professor Marilda Castelar, "the objective is to encourage the spirit of research to improve training and publicize what is being done." She informs that the study group of the Postgraduate Course in Psychology at Bahiana is formatting a database where these studies will be available to researchers.

Among the works presented was the study “The role of the psychologist in the process of inclusion of Afro-descendants with disabilities”, by Carlos Vinícios Melo. The student was recently awarded by the Foundation for Research Support of the State of Bahia – FAPESB with a grant to develop, for one year, the research “The history of the psychologist and the Afro-descendant with a disability, in Salvador”.

I have been a member of the research group of the Bahiana, Vinícius has already developed the study “Contribution of the psychologist in special education in the Public Service for Afro-descendant students”. He explains that all his studies have focused on the double stigma to which Afro-descendants with special needs are subjected in society. “Within its history, Psychology itself contributed to the exclusion, stigmatizing these people”, he says.

In order to effectively support research in its student body, the Center for Research in Psychology of Bahiana has maintained, since 2005, the Research Group “Psychology and Health Promotion”. Registered with the CNPq, the group is composed of professors, researchers and scientific initiation students who develop projects and exchange programs with other institutions such as UFBA and UNEB. For this initiative, the Psychology course receives grants from Bahiana and FAPESP, which are aimed at researchers.

In addition to the presentation of the works, the mini-courses “Systemic Clinical Research”, “Qualitative Research in Health”, “Research in Human Development”, “Ethics and research with human beings” and “Complexity in Research in Mental Health” were carried out.

For the 10th semester student of the Psychology course at Universidade Salvador – UNIFACS, Vera Lúcia Silva Santos, “the event was well organized, with very cool topics. I think we are in a good moment of research here in Bahia. I consider the Bahiana, UNIFACS and Ruy Barbosa are three important research centers here”.

At the end, the participants made suggestions and highlighted the useful points of the Seminar. There was also a raffle of specific books and periodicals in the field of Psychology. “I have no doubts that we are going to transform our Seminar into a major research event in Bahia. Here we had work from former students, students and teachers. We are going to continue with this project at full strength”, declared the Psychology coordinator, Rosália Correia Dias.