Meaning of Adolescence and Health among Participants in an Educational Group of Teenagers

Abstract

Sometimes, the actions addressing health care of adolescents assume a moral and regulatory character without taking into account the views of adolescents on their own development. The purpose was to understand the meanings of adolescence and health from the perspective of 10 teens of both sexes aged between 13 and 19 years from a comprehensive health attention program located in Distrito Federal. Six thematic group sessions were conducted bimonthly, with two-hour meetings. The group methodology was based on the sociodramatic method, which facilitated participation, reflection, and understanding of the topics discussed by the participants. Qualitative epistemology was adopted for the information analysis, and this enabled the construction of indicators about adolescence and health, emerging from five indicators of meaning costructed by researchers: (1) adolescence is more than sex, drugs, and rock and roll; (2) the family must “grow up” with us; (3) must the life plan begin now?; (4) seeking ideal health; and (5) first of all, sexuality is expressed. It follows that we must overcome the stereotypical views of adolescence present in the paradigm of risk discourse and extend our thinking about adolescents’ way of life by considering the contexts for the development of their subjectivity.

Adolescence; Health Promotion; Psychodrama; Subjectivity