In this participative and qualitative research, the aim was to get to know how Family Health Strategy users and professionals perceive health groups developed in a city in Southern Brazil. For collecting the data, Freire's itinerary was used in six culture circles with professionals/users of two teams. Twenty-four themes were investigated and unveiled in two major themes, which were analyzed based on the Ottawa Charter. The study results showed that health promotion actions developed in these groups are strongly connected to the reorientation of the health services and the development of personal skills. The leisure actions developed have shown some cross-sector relations and social participation. The method used in this research permitted approximations between professionals/users, as well as dialogue about the situations and themes brought up. It was concluded that health promotion actions need to be expanded in these groups and that the culture circle Paulo Freire proposed is a possible tool for the construction of participatory and emancipatory health practices.
Health promotion; Health education; Family health; Nursing