Silenced stories: contributions of nurses to the Psychiatric Reform in Rio Grande do Sul

To highlight the work of the nurses who worked at the São Pedro Psychiatric Hospital between 1960 and 1992.

Qualitative study with genealogical inspiration and based on a post-structuralist framework. The data collection took place at the Cultural Memory Service of the São Pedro Psychiatric Hospital, a location dedicated to preserving materials about the institution's history and included interviews with seven nurses and one male nurse who worked at the institution. Concepts from Michel Foucault were used in the analysis.

The São Pedro Psychiatric Hospital was a space of exclusion, where patients were dehumanized and neglected. With the inclusion of nurses, a process of transformation began, and the actions of these professionals were fundamental in driving the Psychiatric Reform, making Rio Grande do Sul a national reference in mental health.

This is a silenced history that, when narrated, becomes an act of resistance and a means of valuing the history of nursing.