Instruments

For the quantitative part we will use a questionnaire designed specifically for this study. It will include 7 sections, each one directed to the measures described above. The sections are based on and partly include other instruments:

Sociodemographic profile: Based on the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics questionnaire adapted to specific local situation.

Access to culture and to social and health services: Developed specifically for the study, based on the set of services available in the area of Maré and on information provided by residents of Maré about existing social and health services as well cultural activities provided by formal and informal institutions/organisations.

Mental health profile. Brief Symptoms Inventory (BSI) [18]. The Brief Symptoms Inventory has 53 items and evaluates 9 domains (somatization, obsessive-compulsion, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation and Psychoticism) and three global indices: global severity index, positive symptom stress index, and positive symptoms total. The global indices measure current or past level of symptomatology, intensity of symptoms, and number of reported symptoms, respectively. It is translated and validated into Portuguese and the application time is 8–12 min [21].

Manchester Short Assessment of Quality of Life (MANSA) [19]. MANSA is an instrument for assessment of quality of life. It has 24 questions and provides scores for quality of life.

Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Screening Test (ASSIST). ASSIST is a screening instrument for detection of substance use. It was developed by World Health Organisation and translated to Portuguese and validated [20]. It includes 8 questions about existence of use of 10 different categories of legal and illicit drugs in the past 3 months, urges, problems, attempts to control use and injected utilization.

Experiences of violence: Developed specifically for the study, based on the data of the Bulletin The Right to Public Security in Maré [13], and also on the reports of Maré residents and professionals. This session also includes questions from the Addiction Severity Index [22]. The experiences investigated include direct (e.g. being beaten, menaced) and indirect exposure (e.g. seeing someone been beaten or killed), and harmful consequences of violence exposure (e.g. being unable to attend school or health care consultation, feeling fear or mental distress).

Behaviours that may be associated with blood and/or sexually transmitted diseases: Includes unprotected sex, sharing paraphernalia for drug injection or smoking, tattoo or piercing.