The concept of user embracement in act: reflections from the meetings with users and professionals of the network

ABSTRACT This article aims to analyze and problematize the meanings attributed by professionals and users of the Network of Psychosocial Care (Raps) in Porto Alegre/RS to the user embracement practices. The research is inserted in the spectrum of participative researches. The participant observation, in three contexts of the Raps of the city of Porto Alegre, the field diary, the narrative interviews (with users and professionals) and the discussion groups with the professionals were adopted as methodological strategies. Inscribed in a regime of otherness, the embracement becomes a dialogical encounter, always polyphasic and marked by tensions.