This study focused on the relationship theory-practice of the discipline Fundamentals and Practices of Collective Health Nursing, offered to undergraduate students of the Nursing School, University of São Paulo, Brazil. The objectives were: to identify and understand the concepts studied in the discipline and to identify its application in nursing practices among these students Data were collected using a questionnaire and analyzed by content analysis. Results: theoretical dimension only partly allowed students to make syntheses potent to develop social practices consistent with the conceptual framework of Collective Health. To overcome this difficulty - and prepare nurses committed to the interpretation of health and disease as a social process and health as social right and, therefore, the transformation of reiterative practices of the hegemonic model -, it is necessary to clarify the different theoretical and methodological approaches underpinning the practices, having teachers directing students to articulate theory and practice.
Teaching; Nursing; Public health nursing; Education
