From sanitary education to health education (1980-1992): discourses and practices

Abstract

ABSTRACT

This historical study was performed with the objective to analyze the official discourses of the Ministry of Health regarding health education in the 1980’s, and to determine if these propositions have been carried forward to the health units. The historical sources used were the health education documents published by the Ministry of Health between 1980 and 1992, as well as studies regarding the health education practices implemented in health units. Documental analysis was used, anchored on the Foucault concepts of discourse and bio power. We realized there were new and different outlines of these practices in the official discourses, which no longer propose coercion, but instead encourage the participation of all. The participative methodology became the center of the educational process, with the purpose of breaking the cycle of oppression that was established over these subjects. By the end of the 1980’s, we observed several configurations of health education practices overlapping with traditional models, emancipatory discourses and neoliberalism strategies.

Descriptors: Health Education; Public Health; Health Policy.