Representações sociais sobre saúde e meio ambiente de equipes da estratégia saúde da família

Abstract

Nowadays, it is known that the issues involving health have a relation with several determinants. Among them, the environment is present, because it is where life develops. Therefore, the relation health and environment is an important aspect to be considered in the practices of workers of the Family Health Strategy (FHS) teams. In view of this, we have the following research question: how are health and the environment constituted in the social representation of Family Health Strategy teams? The objective of the study is to know the social representations (SR) about health and environment of employees of the FHS teams and to identify the relationship between the SR of health and the environment and their actions in the daily work. To reach the objectives listed, we chose the qualitative method, based on the methodological theoretical framework of social representations. The study was developed in a municipality located in the interior of Rio Grande do Sul. The participants of the study were 25 workers from different professional categories, working in the FHS teams of the municipality studied. Data collection took place between February and June 2016, through documentary research and semi-structured interviews. The data were analyzed through content analysis in the thematic modality, evidencing the central nucleus and the peripheral elements that structure the social representations. The study complied with all the ethical and legal determinations set forth in Resolution 466 of December 2012 of the National Health Council. It was approved by the Research Ethics Committee under No. 1,380,372, and obtained the Certificate of Ethical Assessment (CEA) of Number: 51719215.9.0000.5346. From the analysis process the following SR was outlined: The salubrity of the territory, which is the central category of the study. The peripheral elements associated with it are: water, sewage, urban solid waste, pesticides and air pollution. In this perspective, the health territory assumed the centrality of the SR, since it is from this that the other elements that make up the SR were delineated and outsourced by the participants. From this representation it can be inferred that the understanding of the relationship health and environment is intrinsically related to the damages that the environment can cause in health, which materializes as a relation of cause and effect.