Health Promotion in the Experience Of Young Health Promoters

Abstract

This article is based on a professional master's research that aimed to know and analyze the experience of young people and adolescents who participate in a health promotion project for young people and adolescents. The experience of health promotion, as well as the reality of youth and adolescence are addressed by project participants through the focus group technique. An analysis of narratives is carried out, indicating the ways through which participants face the inherent dilemmas of this particular stage of life, as well as the role that the group plays for them in this task. The results indicate that the group experience stimulates an increase of narrative capacity among participants – who perceive improved communication and relatedness – and acts also as a source of construction of an affective bond between participants, constituting an important social support factor, by also creating closer ties with the health unit and the professionals who work there. Also important is the critical role of the health professionals in sustaining alterity for these youngsters, ensuring the free circulation of words, and maintaining an open and frank dialogue with them.