The scope of this paper is to ascertain the perception of community leadership, health professionals and users regarding citizenship status and the enhancement of the healthcare conditions of families belonging to a vulnerable community. This is an exploratory study of a qualitative nature, guided by theory based on data. Data were collected between July and December 2009, by means of interviews with four community health leaders, a team of eight family health team professionals and twelve health users. The codification of the data resulted in the following categories: Understanding the social conditions, the political conditions, the environmental conditions and the health conditions of families in a vulnerable community. The conclusions reached were, that if on the one hand the social security and health policies made it possible to reduce poverty and local inequalities, on the other hand they do not ensure the requisite enhancement of citizenship or even the improvement of health conditions.
Nursing research; Unified Health System; Family Health Program; Primary Healthcare Unit