Educação em saúde no contexto da Saúde da Família na perspectiva do usuário

Abstract

This study aimed to understand users' perspectives regarding health education and its significance in everyday life, through qualitative, descriptive and exploratory research. The participants were eleven users registered with a family health team in Montes Claros, MG, Brazil, whose frequency of attendance of educational activities carried out in 2007, in health education groups, was not less than five times. Data were gathered through unstructured interviews and were analyzed by means of discourse analysis. The results revealed three empirical categories: "Health education practice in the family health team", "Health education provides meaningful learning" and "Health education favors changes in users' health". The health education groups, in which the sessions used pedagogical approaches of conditioning, transmission and/or problem-solving, favored meaningful learning among users. This enabling changes regarding living habits, use of autonomy and taking responsibility for health.