Ageing and memory medication: social rationales and consumption practices.

This article focuses on the social rationales underlying the consumption or rejection of medication for memory by the elderly. Our analysis is set within the wider frame of the current use of psychopharmaceuticals for the enhancement of everyday performance, discussing its relationship to new cultures of ageing. Our results, from a recently concluded study, point to different patterns of investment in memory in old age. On the one hand, we found a willingness to consume medication for memory - a heterogeneous disposition split between the imaginary of disease and that of performance enhancement. On the other hand, we found a cultural resistance and scepticism towards the use of psychopharmaceuticals for performance purposes. This suggests that a new frame of psychopharmaceuticalization of old age - represented by memory medication - is prompting different rationales, ranging from consumption to resistance.

Solutions to tackle the mental health consequences of the economic recession: A qualitative study integrating primary health care users and professionals' perspectives.

This qualitative study explores solutions proposed by primary health care users and professionals to address the consequences of the economic recession and austerity measures on populations' mental health and delivery of care in Portugal. Qualitative data were collected in three primary health care centres in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area. Five focus groups with 26 users and semistructured interviews with 27 health professionals were conducted. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and underwent thematic analysis. Solutions proposed by users focused on improvements in accessibility and management of services, socioeconomic and living conditions, human resources for health, and investment in mental health. Health professionals focused on improvements in integration and articulation of services, infrastructure and structural barriers to primary care, recruitment and retention of human resources, and socioeconomic and living conditions. The themes from both groups were integrated and organized into three axes for action: 1) increasing investment and reversing austerity measures in health and social sectors; 2) coordination and integration of mental health care; and 3) tackling the social determinants of mental health. The findings provide an assessment of the needs and priorities set by primary health care users and professionals, reflecting their contextspecific experiences. These complementary perspectives highlight the need for inter-sectoral efforts in policy-making to improve delivery of care and to mitigate social inequalities in health across the Portuguese population.