Challenges in the anthropological education of healthcare professionals: A teaching experience in graduate studies in collective health

Abstract

Healthcare professionals have sought research education, in the area of Social Sciences, in the scope of Collective Health graduate programs. In this process, anthropological studies, grounded on the cultural anthropological method, have been frequent among these researchers (with no anthropological education). The objective of this study is to reflect on the experience of teaching and learning the theoretical-methodological foundations of cultural anthropological research in health, considering the teaching experience of the authors. The main pedagogical challenge consists in not reducing or trivializing the complexity of the cultural anthropological method, seeking its application to specific demands for intervention. On the other hand, it is fundamental to deconstruct that which is familiar in this learning, relativizing biological assumptions and apprehending cultural reasons among users (since healthcare professionals have research interests intertwined in their professional practices, beyond that which is necessary). It is observed that such incorporation evidences a possible dialectical indissolubility between professional theory and practice.