Resumo

OLSSON, Laís; PADILHA, Ana Clara Loch  e  RIBEIRO, Dayane Machado. The perception of senior students from the Health Science Center at the Federal University of Santa Catarina regarding health promotion. Rev. ABENO [online]. 2012, vol.12, n.2, pp. 213-218. ISSN 1679-5954.

In response to the current health challenges, Health Promotion deals with a theoretical-practicalpolitical approach, involves actions and health projects, and underlies all levels of complexity of health system management and of healthcare service provision. It must prepare the community to be able to help in supervising the whole process to improve the quality of life and health. Given the importance of this knowledge, this paper intends to show how senior students from the Health Science Center at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (HSC-FUSC) perceive Health Promotion. Methodology: Field research in the form of a descriptive and qualitative survey, aiming at analyzing the real situation by observing different phenomena and their causes. The survey respondents consisted of senior undergraduate students from HSC-FUSC, specifically, 3 students from each course, resulting in 15 students. The personal information was submitted to a descriptive analysis, as well as to qualitative analysis using the process of Analysis-Reflection-Synthesis. Results: The profile of the surveyed respondents was predominantly female (60%), and the average age was 21 years old. In respect to the students' knowledge of Health Promotion, they demonstrated difficulty in grasping its meaning; most of the respondents could not distinguish health prevention from health promotion, and were also unable to exemplify how they would apply it in their professional practice. Although the importance of Health Promotion is indeed recognized and valued, a lack of understanding and knowledge of this subject prevailed.

Palavras-chave : Health Promotion; Oral Health; Teaching.