Significados de saúde para crianças de cinco anos e formação de conceitos à luz da abordagem histórico-cultural: reflexões para a promoção da saúde

Abstract

In this research, the main objective was to analyze the meanings that five-year-old children attributed to health in the light of historical-cultural approach, presenting the following specific objectives: To identify the meanings attributed to health by five-year-old children; To analyze these meanings in the context of the theoretical conception of health promotion; To analyze the attribution of the meanings of health by the child in the light of historical-cultural approach; To relate the attribution of meanings by children to the process of concept formation of cultural-historical approach. The study is a qualitative research, based on the concept of health promotion that aims to engage individuals in the search for a healthier environment, and with theoretical and methodological foundation guided by the culturalhistorical approach of Vygotsky, whose focus is the study of the man and his psychological functions, highlighting the thought and the language in their social origins, emphasizing culture as part of the individual's nature and assigning a key role to education, since he considers that learning among humans, who are immersed in the same society, gives access to goods produced culturally. The construction of the data was carried out in a public school in the state of São Paulo, with 20 children of five years old using the Drawing-and-Story Procedure with theme in an individual activity with each child. Every activity was recorded in audio, the speeches were transcribed and the drawings were scanned. The results were organized into four units of analysis: The biomedical/biological model of health; The significance of health as well-being of oneself and others; The relation between health and care; The action of adults or others in the child's health. The analysis indicated that there are participants who meant health by biologizing dimension, as there are those who did so from the perspective of health promotion; pointing to the importance of the role of the adult in child's health as well as the intrinsic relationship between health and care. The attribution of meanings by children constitutes the basis of the process of concept formation about health and different stages of this construction were identified. It is understood that the meanings of health brought here, as well as aspects of concept formation, can guide teachers and health professionals in the work of health education in school, encouraging experiences from what children resignify as historical and cultural beings, providing creativity, curiosity and criticism about "being healthy" considering that the signification process happens continuously in the mediation of the individual with the world.