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Views on the adoption of and advice on healthy lifestyles by health professionals

This article aims to compare the primary care professionals' views on advice on healthy lifestyles before and after an educational intervention. It is a qualitative study conducted with 22 professionals at a health center in Belo Horizonte, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. A structured interview was applied before and after the educational intervention, and the data were subjected to content analysis. The results show the difficulty professionals have to adopt and provide counseling on healthy lifestyles, with little change in their views after the educational intervention. The difficulties were related to financial and cultural issues, matters related to life and work, and to conservative views. The curative practice with individual accountability and the focus on eating habits and physical activity predominated. It was noted that, after the educational intervention, more professionals was sensitized with the collective educational and recreational activities and with the need for multidisciplinary work. As such, continuity in the professionals' continuing education is seen as necessary to allow for reflection on possible views on health in the contemporary context, encouraging the production of care and autonomy.

counseling; lifestyle; primary health care; promotion of health


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