Construções sociais e subjetivas do risco e promoção da saúde em doenças crônicas não transmissíveis sob a ótica da população de Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais

Abstract

Given the magnitude of chronic noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) in the global context, the Brazilian Ministry of Health established in 2006, the VIGITEL project - Surveillance of Risk and Protective Factors for Chronic Diseases by telephone survey, in 27 cities of the country. With the VIGITEL there was improvement in the quality of epidemiological information, however, subjective aspects about ways to act and live health, individually and collectively, considering the point of view of the subjects, had not yet been included in the data and studies from it. It was realized then the need to include new methodologies that seek to understand the dimension of choice and adherence to healthy lifestyles, as well as the vision of one's own risk within their social contexts of life, because the information by itself does not modify the ways of health care. This study aimed to interpret reflections from focus groups, peoplefrom the 2008 VIGITEL sample to unveil representations about protection and risks related to NCDs and understand, in individual narratives, representations contained in the trajectories of people's lives from the 2010 VIGITEL sample too, both in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, unveiling their ways of living and caring their health, including risk, health promotion and prevention of NCDs. This is a qualitative research that used the theory of Social Representations as methodological framework and structural analysis of narrative as a method of data analysis. The results showed that age and heredity are factors related to NCDs, and are part of the scientific information about them, however, they seem not to give sense of care and healthy lifestyle, as well as the riskexperienced by the subjects. There are differences in the ways of living and promoting health among age groups that can be understood with the fact of the representation of association of NCDs with age being deeper than the representation of hereditary of NCDs. The view of risk of the groups and subjects is grounded in their experiences, and social interactions and therefore refer to the sociological risk. Risks are partly contingency and choice, but is not always possible to make healthy or free of risks choices, knowing them or not. The basis for consistent care with a positive way of life and health will depend on learning about the way of living and health care, which, from childhood, wereexperienced by the subjects. The lack of understanding of the pathophysiology of NCDs, and the depth of representations of illness and death related to communicable diseases, respond, in part, by the difficulty of preventing NCDs. The central representation of health care relates to medical care with the medical consultations and examinations, and is more coherent with the biomedical model that aims to overcome with the model of health promotion.