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Home > HCAS > HCAS_PUBS > HCAS_JOURNALS > TQR Home > TQR > Vol. 30 > No. 12 (2025)

 

Abstract

In this study, we analyzed the affective experiences and labor subjectivation processes of community psychologists working in intervention programs implemented by state institutions in Colombia for victims of the armed conflict, a conflict that remains ongoing in various regions of the country. By labor subjectivation processes, we refer (drawing on Foucault) to the ways in which individuals come to relate to themselves and to others through the norms, discourses, and practices that shape their roles within a given historical and institutional context—in this case, the field of psychosocial labor. To conduct this research, we used discourse analysis and semi-structured interviews with 18 participants. Data collection took place in two phases: the first, in 2022, focused on affective work experiences, the problematization of the intervener's role, and the potentialities and limitations of state programs (UARIV: Unit for Comprehensive Care and Reparation for Victims; PAPSIVI: Psychosocial Care and Comprehensive Health Program for Victims). The second phase, in 2024, involved follow-up interviews with the same participants to explore subjective transformations and their evolving professional trajectories. From our analysis, we identified the interpretative repertoire "Opening Paths" as a central metaphor that articulates four registers of the participants’ experiences as psychosocial interveners: (a) The technical-affective crossroads, (b) A turn towards the path of the affective, (c) Walking the path of the affective, and (d) Continuities and new paths. These registers highlight the urgency of reviewing the psychosocial support methodologies of the programs to ensure the well-being of professionals.

Keywords

psychosocial intervention, psychosocial support in armed conflict, affectivity, discourse analysis

Author Bio(s)

Edwin Alexander Hernández Zapata has a Ph.D. in Social Sciences from the University of Antioquia (Medellín-Colombia) and a Master's degree and Specialist in Social Psychology from the Pontifical Bolivarian University (Medellín-Colombia). He is a psychologist from the University of San Buenaventura (Medellín-Colombia) and a full-time professor and leader of the Education and Development research group (Classified before the Ministry of Sciences of Colombia), of the Psychology program of the Cooperative University of Colombia. He is also a professor of Social Psychology at the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana (Medellín-Colombia) and a researcher recognized by Minciencias (Colombia). His research interests have focused on the processes of contemporary subjectivation, neoliberalism, governmentality, Foucauldian studies and temporality. Please direct correspondence to edwin.hernandezz@campusucc.edu.co

Diana Vanessa Vivares Porras has a Master's degree and specialist in Social Psychology from the Pontifical Bolivarian University (Medellín-Colombia) and is a Ph.D. candidate in Social and Human Sciences from the National University of Colombia. She is a psychologist from the Pontifical Bolivarian University and a full-time professor at the María Cano University Foundation (Medellín-Colombia) and a professor of Social Psychology at the Pontifical Bolivarian University. She is part of the research group Psyche and Society (Classified by the Ministry of Science of Colombia). Her research interests have focused on feminist studies, social-community psychology, processes of subjectivation and the Colombian armed conflict.

Juan David Soto-Fadul is a psychologist with a master's degree in neuropsychology, and a Ph.D. student in epidemiology and biostatistics at CES University, with experience in the areas of measurement, evaluation and diagnosis in both psychology and neuropsychology for clinical or research purposes, and more than 15 years of experience in the education of psychologists, in areas such as: basic and complex psychological processes, biosociology, neuropsychology, quantitative research and more recently in statistics.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to the Cooperative University of Colombia for funding the research.

Publication Date

12-31-2025

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2025.7955

ORCID ID

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4646-632X

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