Health, citizenship and quality of life: study of the social representations of workers that a popular cooperative

Abstract

The concept of health and disease has a different meaning and sense according to the times and the social groups in which they are embedded. It becomes fundamental to understand the concept that individuals have regarding the health-disease process, once they seek care for their own health. This study had as its objectives: to identify the social concepts of health/disease of the members of a Popular Cooperative with regard to S.U.S. (Unified Health System), and to propose indicators for the planning of educational activities. The research was developed through observation of the population, meeting the group and carrying out semi-structured interviews for qualitative analysis. Three categories (health / disease in the absence of signs and symptoms, physical capacity, and anchored in the “medicalization” of the condition), identified the social concepts of health/sickness with life/work/ death. The data helped us understand the overall consensus of this group and then to consider the need for health education activities that tries to expand their ways of seeing in order to use healthier practices for improving the quality of the lives of the individuals in this study.