This report analyzes characteristics of Health Education practices in the city of João Pessoa, Paraíba State, Brazil. The data were obtained from 65 Health Services of the 70 catalogued, including different health centers, by means of visits and interviews with the health professionals in the Services. Among the investigated Services, 74.0% practices Health Education. Only 43.7% of the investigated Services have nutritionists; the most frequent professionals are: doctors, nurses, psychologists, dentists and social workers. In the educational activities, social workers, nurses and psychologists were the health professionals with more participation. For those activities, the most frequent strategies adopted were lectures, posters and pamphlets. Those educacional activities were elaborated for pregnant women, preschool children and couples. It was observed that breast feeding, prenatal care, family planning, personal hygiene and vaccination were the educational themes more discussed in the Services. It was also observed that the Services do not have a systematic form of evaluation of the activities. Most of the Services consider the follow-up of the patient as an index to evaluate the activities.
health education; community health services; nutritionist
