The social construction of the family health strategy program in the user’s perspective - doi: 10.4025/cienccuidsaude.v11i2.10299

Abstract

The Family Health Strategy Program, which was established in 2002, in Belo Horizonte city, Minas Gerais, Brazil, aims to reorganize the Primary Health Care based on its users’ health priorities through intersectorial actions with participation of the population. The proposal of this strategy may be clear for managers and health care professionals, but it is necessary that the population get involved on the process in order to have an effective participation. Thus, this paper aims to register the users’ social representations about the Family Health Strategy Program. This study was carried out with users of a Primary Health Care from Belo Horizonte city. It was a qualitative research, based on the Social Representation Theory. However, it is known that the users have not yet understood the Family Health Program - PSF, but they have learned notions about it through their experience with the health care professionals. Such representations may contribute to the understanding of the users’ expectations concerning the proposed strategy and be understood as the beginning of their real participation in the on-going construction of the health model.