Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

The use of active methods in the health worker training process is a guideline that is recommended under the National Continuing Education in Health Policy (PNEPS) for National Health System (SUS) employees. In this study, the authors created an educational intervention for community health agents (CHA) regarding care aimed at children/families with asthma. The aim is to describe an educational action involving community health workers about asthmarelated knowledge, adopting the National Policy on Continuing Education in Health in the context of primary care. This was a 'quantiqualitative' study, with pretest and posttest assessments filled in by the community health workers them-selves, in addition to active approaches in three experiential focus groups, which had their activities recorded and transcribed for later data analysis using the content analysis methodology in accordance with the thematic mode proposed by Bardin. The CHA's knowledge about the myths related to asthma increased after the educational activity. The following themes emerged from the focus groups: Health education for the prevention of respiratory diseases; Meaning attributed to asthma; Firecrackers: demystifying concepts; Trigger factors for asthma; Adapting preventive care; Assessing the knowledge built. The use of active methodologies favored the development of skills among the CHAs, arousing motivation in the educational approach with children/families with asthma.

This study had a qualitative approach, with the purpose of understanding users' perceptions of health services provided by professors and students of undergraduate courses in health at a university in the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil, and on the repercussions of this participation on their own health and quality of life. The data was collected by the indepth interview technique from twenty individuals who sought treatment in locations where teaching-learning processes were carried out. The data analysis-reflection-synthesis process, based on the theoretical reference adopted, indicated positive repercussions on users' quality of life and health, particularly with regards to the attributes identified in interactions that permeated the treatment of the specific necessities presented by them. The set of categories identified in the professor-student-user interactions may be characterized as a construct of humanized attention in teaching-learning processes, which in and of themselves, represent a space for treatment and its execution for all the participants, because of their care-related attributes. Processes of this nature may contribute to the establishment of curricular directives, integrated with public health policies, which could be directed at full and humanized health care, considering the promotion of the quality of life of the population in different contexts.

The National Curricular Directives for undergraduates in the health area were approved in 2002, in an attempt to break the biomedical paradigm with regards to the production of knowledge and professions. With the purpose of adapting to those directives, the Physiotherapy course at the State University of Londrina reformulated its curriculum and, included among the alterations, it expanded the class hours and restructured the Collective Health discipline. The purpose of this study was to analyze whether the Collective Health content of the new curriculum covers the formation of abilities under the curricular directives, as well as evaluating student perceptions with regards to their formation for working with basic health care. Accordingly, a documentary analysis of the content of interviews given by graduating students in the last semester of their courses was carried out. It was ascertained that the content analyzed covers essential aspects of social sciences and humanities in health, and that the apprenticeship in basic health care was what most provided experience in team work. Despite assessing the Collective Health classes positively, the students suggested that the theoretical discussions be more articulated to the apprenticeship, because, accordingly, there would be greater opportunities for learning the work of physiotherapy in the basic health care arena more effectively.

There is a discrepancy between the demands of the labor market in the health sector and professional technical colleges. The quest for comprehension of one of the aspects pertaining to the distance between professional formation of technicians in clinical analyses and the necessities of the labor market is the focus of this research. The general purpose of this study is to understand the teaching methodology used by professors in biosecurity at technical colleges that offer courses in clinical analyses, in conjunction with a high school in the Metropolitan Region of Rio de Janeiro, where data was collected from Public Teaching Units of the State of Rio de Janeiro. When dealing with a case study with a qualitative approach, information was obtained by means of recorded interviews that were guided by a semi-structured questionnaire, whose content was analyzed by three biosecurity professors. The results of the survey indicate the necessity for reformulations in pedagogic practice, enabling the formation of technicians in clinical analyses to be more in line with the actual necessities of the private or public market represented by the Public Health System (SUS).

The purpose of this research is to analyze social practices in the work of community health agents (ACSs) in the city of Recife, state of Pernambuco, Brazil. Accordingly, a qualitative approach was adopted, whose theoretical-methodological aspects were founded on historical and dialectic materialism. ACSs have a unique role, because they deal with an important crosssection of social classes in their work and living spaces. Despite the institutionalization of their work, it still contains references forged during their work with the community and the population at large. We emphasize that the institutionalization of the work of ACSs, in and of itself, is a contradictory and conflicting process from the standpoint of institutional policy, since the practice developed by them incorporates popular wisdom and practices that may create tensions. At the same time, it is important to remember that the territory where the ACSs live and operate exerts an influence on their professional production.

This article discusses the possibilities of including the performing arts in professional health education based on the aesthetic and pedagogical proposal set forth by Augusto Boal. The polytechnic concept, by advocating that workers' training include an integration of work, science and culture, opens space for new possibilities in this field. Authors such as Paulo Freire, in the field of education, and Augusto Boal, in theater, converge towards the prospect of the workers building both a culture and aesthetics of their own to reflect their world view. Our goal was to think about how Augusto Boal's theatrical propositions may be appropriate for the field of health education in an attempt to establish relationships and affinities between these two practices, from the perspective of health worker education, that they will provide the professionals with a more humanistic type of training that will extend beyond the labor market's more immediate requirements.

The purpose of this essay is to show the importance of discussing the relationship among the body, work and education. The goal is to make an analysis based on reflections concerning the 'body at work' and the 'body for work.' The essay shows that the relationship among the body, work and education is an issue that can enrich reflections on the body, on society from a Marxist viewpoint and, also, on matters that are important to those who are concerned with the body dimension in education.

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The socioeconomic changes that took place in Brazil in the 1980s and the guarantee of public policies by the 'citizen constitution' sparked a transformation in the psi field: the impracticability of the self-employed worker model and the opening of new fields of performance. Among these, Public Health, on its three levels of care, is what has enabled these new forms of integration the most. However, the psychologists' process of dialogue with this field of knowledge has been problematic, a fact that has lead to a type of training that has not provided the necessary readiness for them to work in line with SUS. This article aims to analyze the proposal of training professionals to work in primary care as foreseen under the undergraduate programs in psychology in Fortaleza by means of its political and educational projects. To achieve this, the authors used a qualitative approach and document analysis as their methodological strategy. It was found that, notwithstanding the new curriculum guidelines, psychologists are still trained based on a traditional clinical proposal, with education centered on the intervention model of health. The authors conclude there is a need for changes designed to expand and requalify the training in psychology to work in primary health care.