Rev. Saúde Pública 2010;44(1):177-184

Actions of health group coordinators within the teaching/care network

DOI: 10.1590/S0034-89102010000100019

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the model for actions by health promotion group coordinators, in primary healthcare units with links to professional training. METHODOLOGICAL PROCEDURES: A qualitative study was carried out in the municipality of Florianópolis, Southern Brazil, in 2001. Four groups were evaluated, over a total of 24 sessions at primary healthcare units. Participant observation was performed to start the fieldwork. The reports were analyzed by means of the technique of enunciative-pragmatic discourse analysis. ANALYSIS OF RESULTS: The types of action among the coordinators that were congruent with the preventive model were: oppression, bench teaching, biologism and higienism, prescription of approaches, blame apportionment, infantilization, reduction of collective problems, denigration of group settings and use of monologue. The types of action consonant with the new promotion model were: facilitation of free expression and autonomy, empathetic communication, constructivism, receptiveness, active listening and promotion of overcoming of violence and alienation. CONCLUSIONS: The coordinators acted primarily by means of the preventive model, without using technical and theoretical resources that allude to group methodology in the field of healthcare. The actions within the preventive and new health promotion models that were identified reveal characteristics that are grounded in, respectively, the ethics of oppression/subordination of users and cooperation/acceptance of users as free and responsible for their choices and consequences.