Education practices developed by nurses in adolescent health promotion

Abstract

Adolescence is expressed by biopsychosocial development, delimited by the age group of 10 to 19 years old that, in general, initiates with corporal changes of puberty and finishes with social, professional and economic insertion. The adolescents possess health necessities that are produced in the scope of the society, defining and changing themselves from the interaction with its several economic, institutional, political, ethical, cultural and physical ambient components. This study had as its objective to analyze the education practices aimed at adolescent heath promotion, by means of documental research in nursing publications, in the period of 1999 to 2005, emphasizing empirical studies and experience reports involving group formation; and to identify the main theoretical and methodological procedures in education actions adopted in these studies. The results disclosed that only six articles, in which the nurses had affirmed to base their education practice with adolescents on theoretic referential, had valued the active participation of the adolescents, the critical reflection, the creativity and formal and not formal knowledge aiming at reaching transformation in their relations. Thus, we infer that there is a restrict number of publications on the subject, considering the high vulnerability and dependence of this age group regarding its sexuality and exposure to conflict situations.