Intervention research as research-support: the case of POP RUA

This article discusses the production of knowledge in the field of public health, developing the idea of research-support as a modulation of participatory intervention research in the field of health. Participatory intervention research was used and perfected by Enativos Research Group of Universidade Federal Fluminense, in the scope of Gaining Autonomy & Medication Management (GAM) in the field of mental health. In these experiments, the production of autonomy and the increase of participation in health practices were in question. The issues of the field have ended up modifying their own research practices. This research used the same methodological approach of the intervention researches at GAM, in the interface between basic care and mental health, in a service of Street Outreach Clinic team (Consultório na Rua); in Rio de Janeiro, called POP RUA. This article is a mixture of report and essay which analyzes the transformation of intervention research into research-support with POP RUA, proposing support as a method to produce knowledge in qualitative research, in the scope of intervention research. Such transformation is possible because health production processes understood as inseparable from processes of knowledge production and care production are supported.