Recent scholarly reflections and discussions have been focused on the teaching of social sciences as part of courses in the health fields. The different dimensions involved in the process of taking ill and the state of being ill itself - not just from a biological but also from a psychosocial standpoint - transcend a simple biomedical analysis, given their complexity. The present descriptive research study, which analyzes data both quantitatively and qualitatively, endeavors to understand health and illness from an interdisciplinary view, i.e., where these fields of knowledge come together in the Sociology of Health class that is part of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte's Physical Therapy Course. The authors conclude that those who teach sociology as part of health field courses must assume the responsibility of linking the social sciences to the practice of healthcare workers, by placing knowledge within the context of the healthcare professional's reality in our society today.
social sciences; physical therapy; transdisciplinary; health-sickness process
