This study was run in a community committee of Nossa Senhora da Aparecida, a surrounding city of Joao Pessoa, Paraiba. It aimed at characterizing nursing practice there and discussing its occurrence. The analysis was run based on eight inhabitants and four nurses speeches through semistructured interviews whose data were collected qualitatively. It focused on the discussion which evolved from questions regarding to education and health from the perspective of exercising citizenship. In the participants of the study representations, education seemed dynamic and implied awareness... a question of life. Health is comprehended under 3 points of view: the one of welfare, the one of suffering and the one of biological balance. The perspective of citizenship exercise reveals itself sometimes as conformism, through silence or resignation and sometimes as resistance, through the ideal manifestation and courage for fighting for better life condition.
Nursing; Education and health; Citizenship