Abstract
This paper is an excerpt from a larger project entitled “O Empoderamento do/da Adolescente para a Promoção da sua Saúde no Contexto de uma Residência Multiprofissional” (Empowerment of Adolescents to Promote Health in a Multidisciplinary Context). This is an exploratory and explanatory qualitative study conducted in a public school from a municipality of Minas Gerais, in the context of a Multidisciplinary Residency in Adolescent Health, whose aim was to identify adolescents’ perceptions and choices concerning health. Data were collected by means of workshops conducted with High School students, fully transcribed, analyzed according to theme, and interpreted from the theoretical perspective of Social Psychology. Data analysis identified the presence of multiple themes, which were divided into three categories: ‘Adolescents’ perception on health’, associated with the biomedical paradigm as well as to Modern Health Promotion; ‘Influences on adolescents’ choices and health’, which highlights the role of family and interpersonal relationships; and ‘Means through which adolescents look for information’, which indicates the Internet as a basic locus for information search. These categories were approached from three axes: ‘Adolescences, health, and their bodies: drafts or power?’; ‘Adolescences, influences, choices, and health’; and ‘Adolescences, digital culture, and health: possible articulations’. The results indicate that promoting health among adolescents requires us to break with generic and idealist concepts underlying adolescence, extrapolate the traditional spaces of healthcare aimed at this public, and consider the Social Determinants of Health.
Keywords:
Adolescence; Choices; Health promotion
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