A percepção de qualidade de vida entre escolares brasileiros

Abstract

This research aimed to understand the perceptions of students about quality of life and meet the physical, social and psychological factors that are related to this perception. This study was conducted with students from 7-10 years in a public school, elementary school, located in the metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte, in the city of Contagem, in Minas Gerais. The selection of the school is guided in the availability of work with a school of different social contexts in relation to schools in other countries and to represent the Brazilian reality. We opted for the qualitative approach since we wanted to understand what is a life quality for children. In participating school were randomly selected three groups that contemplated the age group of 7-10 years. The sample consisted of 22 participants whose parents or guardians have authorized the child's participation. The methods used for data collection were the design, narrative after drawing and interview with three questions about what it means quality of life for the child. The choice of design, narrative and interview considered the fact that they are a good way of expression and verbalization of school age in the study groups. Data collection used two phases: the first phase was the collection by the design narrative done in three stages: free design, theme design and the narrative of the drawings. The second stage was the interview with three questions. Data were analyzed using triangulation methods that considered the results of the narratives of the drawings made by the school of the same authors and interview relevant to the subject of research that showed the core meanings and themes defined by consensus. Thus distinguished the variables that were organized into four categories: family; childish things (friends, games, animals); values; Structural conditions / security. These categories revealed the importance of understand the perception of children as an authentic being, autonomous, able to reflect and interact expressing what they understand about their welfare. The results point to the importance of children participating in the stages of construction of quality of life questionnaires, as some reported dimensions had already been included (family games, friends), but others such as security, living conditions and values are not normally found .