[Impact of primary care socio-educational groups in mental health of women].

OBJECTIVE:To present part of the results of the evaluation of this strategy. METHOD:Longitudinal (pre-post) and quasi-experimental (experimental and control group) design, collecting information from 228 women (114 each group) in four moments (one month before the program; one month after the end of the program; six months and a year and a half). Among the instruments used are the Anxiety and Depression Scale and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. RESULTS:Women in the experimental group reduce their symptoms of depression and anxiety and improve their self-esteem after participating in the program, and this improvement is maintained until a year and a half after the end of it. On the contrary, women in the control group do not present pre-post differences in almost none of the variables analyzed (except in anxiety symptoms). CONCLUSION:These results support GRUSE as a non-medical intervention, and it is considered that they can serve as a stimulus to maintain the strategy and even extend it to other population groups that also experience psychosocial discomfort.