Educational actions with women from an association of recyclable materials

Abstract

The objective of this study was, based on a previous investigative process, to carry out educational actions with women from a recyclable materials association, with a view to the promotion and protection of health. The study is associated with an action research project. This manuscript address the final stages of the method, which are related to the interventions in the participants’ reality. To this end, regular health education workshops were conducted between March/2021 and July/2022, based on a previously designed and organized plan with the women from the association of recyclable materials. The results of this study demonstrate that health education transcends preconceived mental schemes and previously agreed schedules. It involves interactive and dialogical skills to try to influence the users’ behavior, as well as the mobilization of latent forces, in which each subject perceives himself as the protagonist of his own history. The authors conclude that education and health promotion require proactive leadership in the defense of life and health, through integral and effective dialogue with the various social actors.