The professional missionary motivation in the shelters for the youth: problem or solution?

Abstract

The study examines the scope to which missionary motivation is a problem or asolution for the professionals working in the shelters for young people from the municipal network.The work is anchored in the results from a project conducted between 2008 and 2010 in two shelterslocated in Rio de Janeiro, performing 47 interviews with professionals from different functions. Themethod used to collect data was the oral history, utilizing a semi-structured guide. Data analysis wasbased on Communication Theory, abducting categories from the narratives. Through the analysis itwas found that a significant number of caregivers showed that their religious beliefs seem to guidetheir professional performance in the shelters, in order to minimize the psychological distress. Inbrief, it was found that the missionary motivation of the professionals of the shelters has severalmeanings, especially for the lack of training and supervision.