Popular Health, Environmental and Occupational Surveillance: an integrative literature review

Abstract

The objective is to identify concepts, experiences, methods, and techniques in Popular Health, Environmental and Occupational Surveillance (VPSAT). This is an integrative review that used the descriptors: Community Participation, Public Health Surveillance, Environmental Health, and Occupational Health, using five databases: Virtual Health Library, EBSCOhost, Embase, Scopus and Web of Science. The review selected 15 studies, based on the inclusion criteria: surveillance experiences with community protagonism; and exclusion criteria: research without primary data and developed only by the health service. The theoretical and methodological bases of the studies were identified as citizen science, popular education, and environmental justice; experiences such as participatory mapping and monitoring; methods such as action research, ‘do-it-yourself’, and community-based research; and techniques such as “Photovoice” and Community Journal. Low-income urban communities, indigenous peoples, young individuals, and workers stand out as the protagonists. The recognition of the VPSAT as an important source of data and intervention by public health systems and academia contributes to making health surveillance more dialogic and effective.