ABSTRACT
The present study aimed at analyzing the health care practices developed by Community Health Workers, within the scope of the home visit, with families assisted by the Family Health Strategy (FHS), in the municipality of Montes Claros (MG). Studies in the field of health promotion have indicated that such practices may, sometimes, assume more prescriptive, disciplinary, guilty-apportioning, normative attitudes, aimed more directly at the behavioral change of the individual, or, in a different way, may be more dialogic and interactive in relation with families assisted, based on a concept of integral health care. The study analyzed the practices of the CHW in order to understand how they have been addressing aspects of private life and the public dimension of the health process and what different postures they adopt in interactions with families. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with users of FHS and CHW from three teams, and 20 home visits conducted by CHW were observed in the year 2013. It was concluded that the practices of CHW, sometimes, assume characteristics that point to the imposition of a biomedical know-power and, on the other hand, that they consider aspects of the subjectivity of the individual/community.
KEYWORDS
Community Health Workers; Primary Health Care; Health Promotion; Home Calls