SUS, despite its legal and institutional framework favorable to quality practices, did not produce many of the aspirations desired. The traditional tools of planning have not been sufficient for the design of practice changes in SUS. This paper intends to propose the Theory of Structuration as an assessment tool in services. One could say that the most current debate on evaluation focuses on: the types of studies and ways of incorporating both qualitative methods and traditional quantitative ones; in the use, by services, of research results of evaluation, and institutionalization of evaluation. Another argument for a more effective is that the knowledge of professionals and users has to be incorporated in order to provide reflection and to produce change. The Theory of Structuration is identified as a methodology for allowing a reflection from the knowledge of a given structure and an interpretation of the consequences of action based on the access to the agent. This theory provides us with resources to broader institutional analysis and simultaneously is a powerful tool for evaluations located in micro-environments. To access the agent through his speech and his practice and to observe "in action" other influences of social systems that act on the circumstances of the action is one way to "elucidate the concrete processes of social life" and allow for greater reflexivity of the actors on their practice.
Structuration Theory; evaluation practices; health assessment