Insertion and activities of occupational therapists in the field of social assistance: the panorama presented by the Social Services in Brazil (SUAS Census)

Abstract Occupational therapy has historically been present in social assistance services that are part of the Unified Social Assistance System (SUAS), whose regulation was established in 2011 through Resolution No. 17 of the National Council of Social Assistance. This study aimed to identify the professional insertion of occupational therapists in SUAS, characterizing them according to sex, age group, employment status, function, workload, and location, and describing the main activities they develop. An exploratory, descriptive, and analytical study was conducted based on secondary data obtained from the official Federal Government database, the SUAS Census, covering the period between 2007 and 2022. The data were collected, organized, and examined to synthesize values of the same nature. The variables were described according to their content and frequencies. The results were organized into three themes: the characterization of occupational therapists, the scenario of insertion and exclusion, and work within SUAS. A decrease in the number of occupational therapists was identified, with lower decline in Day Centers and Homeless Population Centers and bigger decline in the Social Assistance Reference Centers (CRAS). The findings highlight their activities in essential services of social assistance units and their performance in management positions. Based on these results, this study seeks to contribute to guiding the assessment of participation in SUAS and to draw attention to the trend of decreasing numbers of professionals, with the intention of strengthening the category, encouraging work in the sector, and improving the assistance provided to users of the Social Assistance Policy.