The present study aimed to investigate which ideas, beliefs and perceptions of resilience in single-parent families emerge from the discourses of health community agents. The notion of resilience used in Psychology was taken as a reference. Six health community agents from different neighborhoods in Rio Grande - RS were interviewed and asked to describe families according to their everyday experience and single-parent families that "overcome poverty adversities". Most of them described poor families as "needy, unstructured and passive to poverty". Although some narratives presented the positive changes that followed the families' single-parent condition, the agent's work seemed to focus more on the questions related to physical diseases than the psychological health aspects. Therefore, the perceptions and beliefs about resilience are frequently pessimistic. These results suggest the need for educational programs to facilitate the professionals' work with a psychological and educational emphasis towards conditions for the healthy development of families.
Family; Comunitary health; Health education; Family health
