Saúde e infância: o entendimento da relação saúde-doença com as experiências de vida de crianças

Abstract

Discussions on health education are urgent and should cover both school and non school spaces, so that children can have essential reflections on issues that influence their health. This work sought to understand how the health-disease theme relates to the life experiences of children in the 5th Year of Elementary School of a school in the city of Barreirinha, Amazonas. The research is qualitative in nature, with a phenomenological approach method and data analysis of a phenomenological hermeneutic nature. The following were used as techniques and instruments of the research: a probing activity, a conversation wheel, drawing workshop, dialogues, an analysis of textbooks and official documents of education. The activities were recorded using a field diary, photographic camera and voice recorder. The subjects of the investigation were 16 children of either gender, aged between ten and eleven years old; the science teacher and five parents of students of the 5th grade of Elementary School of a State School of Barreirinha. The results indicate that children have knowledge of the health-disease theme and present a plurality of everyday experiences (experiences of illness, interpersonal relationship, leisure, hygiene and eating habits) that can affect their quality of life. Children acquire the knowledge and sometimes apply it in their life. In relation to food issues, however, there is a dissociation, in part, between the acquired knowledge and the attitudes of food choices. This indicates the need to seek means that not only contribute to the acquisition of theoretical knowledge, but that enable students to articulate their daily lives, especially in food choices. The parents of the children have a conception of health by behavioral bias, linked to prevention. The class teacher works with practical examples, in order for the concepts to be assimilated and applied in life. This study presents the importance and need for discussions on the theme health-disease in school and non-school spaces, in order to provide them with access to knowledge about the fundamental heakth disease relationship for their lives.