Culture circles and promotion of health in Family Health Strategy

Abstract

Objective: To analyze the conceptions and practices of health professionals in a Family Health Center (CSF), in Fortaleza-CE, Brazil, on the theme of promoting health, providing a space for reflection that contributes to the improvement of practices. Methods: The action research methodology and culture circles have been adopted as a way of collective problematization and interaction in the research process. The study was performed in February 2011, during three meetings held in the space of co-management, when all professionals are gathered. The meetings were divided as follows: 1st meeting, presentation of the work proposition and survey of vocabulary universe and generating themes; 2nd meeting, questioning, reasoning and theorethical and practical reflection; 3rd meeting, developing strategies to overcome the extreme situations, construction of summaries and evaluation. Results: It was observed a certain lack of conceptual differentiation between what actions of health promotion and disease prevention mean. Nevertheless, the adoption of a problematization method has allowed the participants to discuss those themes, identifying the opportunities and challenges for transformating these practices in order to construct a new perspective on health promotion in the context of the Unified Health System. Conclusion: Most professionals associate health promotion to disease prevention. As a determinant aspect for such misunderstanding, this professionals’ learning process is to be pointed out, as it is based on the biomedical model and focuses its practices on the illness, attempting to change individuals’ behavior and lifestyle.