In Brazil, homeopathy was officially recognized as a medical specialty by the National Medical Board in 1980. Since the creation of the Unified National Health System (SUS), some Brazilian States and municipalities have begun to offer homeopathic care to users of public health services. In 2006, the government issued Ruling 971, which guarantees access to homeopathic care for these users, in addition to other integrative and complementary therapies. Based on the above, we studied the perceptions of undergraduate students of Pharmacy, Medicine, and Dentistry concerning homeopathy and its practice in the National Health System, based on the theory of social representations. These representations were constructed with the following parameters: homeopathy as therapy; and the relationship between homeopathy, the National Health System, and the principle of comprehensiveness. Students were able to correlate comprehensive patient care with understanding patients' needs based on their reality. Most students lacked knowledge on the theoretical premises of homeopathy and were unaware that it had been incorporated into the National Health System. The findings suggest that the inclusion of future professionals in the context of health activities and access to other rationales would allow a clearer choice of their professional practices.
Homeopathy; Single Health System; Students, Health Occupations; Health Science; Social Representations
