Studies about the Brazilian Health Reform Movement: different perspectives on the same phenomenon

ABSTRACT

The Brazilian Health Sector Reform has been approached from different theoretical and methodological perspectives, and that variety of approaches is what motivated this research. Thus, the aim of this article is to analyze studies about the Health Reform Movement, published between 1987 and 2019, from a systematic review of 28 selected articles, among the 426 collected on the ‘Capes Periodicals Portal’, ‘SciELO’, and ‘Virtual Health Library’. The results indicate that the majority of authors are subjects ethically and politically engaged in the movement and largely use the Marxist approach. Concerning information sources, bibliographic research and consultation of institutional documents or documents published by Health Sector Reform entities were prioritized. However, few studies clearly explain the methodological strategies and the theoretical basis used to perform a textual analysis. It is concluded that the choice of the theoretical and methodological references is related to the professional and political trajectory of the authors, directly impacting on the delimitation of the objects of study and, consequently, on the scope and results of the analyses on the Health Reform Movement.

KEYWORDS
Political activism; Health care reform; Activity, political; Health reform movement; Political analysis in health