Meanings attributed by adolescents and young people to health: challenges of Family Health in a vulnerable community in Cubatão, São Paulo, Brazil

Abstract

This article, based on a master’s research, carried out between 2013 and 2015, in a vulnerable community, the Vila dos Pescadores, in Cubatão (SP), Brazil, aims to present the meanings attributed to health by adolescents and young people as well as to the Health Unit, having as subjects the adolescents themselves and adults involved in community work. The construction of the results, based on the methodology of depth hermeneutics, was based on field diaries, produced from participant observation, and interviews with young people and adults inserted in the context of a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) and in a Capoeira Group. The results show adolescents and young people’s perception about the influence of social determinants in health, mentioning the difficulties encountered by these subjects in perceiving the Family Health Unit of the neighborhood as a space for production and health promotion. Although the results also show that there is no articulation between the Health Unit with the NGO and the Capoeira Group, the latter show great potential to promote health. The challenges of thinking about health actions for this population in an accessible, integral, intersectoral way and based on the experiences of the individuals themselves prevail.