Participatory health education on school (re)inclusion of the adolescent cancer survivor

Abstract

Objectives: to analyze school (re)inclusion of an adolescent cancer survivor before/after participatory health education with adolescents. Methods: qualitative and participatory research that included data from the medical record of an adolescent rhabdomyosarcoma survivor and Talking Map dynamics (to diagnose the demand for learning and assess changes). The body-knowledge dynamics were applied in the educational intervention. In a public school in Rio de Janeiro, the adolescent (reference case) and nine people (four teachers and five teenagers) generated empirical materials, which became the content analysis objects. Results: strangeness to changes in an adolescent cancer survivor’s body image, bullying, and acceptance were problematized in educational body-knowledge dynamics through relationships between changes and barriers to welcoming. The participatory educational process was essential in raising awareness by promoting re-inclusive actions. Conclusions: participatory-problematizing education contributed to constructing a new collective identity and improvement in school interaction among peers.