Banca de DEFESA: CLEITHIANO CANDIDO DE FREITAS

Uma banca de DEFESA de MESTRADO foi cadastrada pelo programa.
STUDENT : CLEITHIANO CANDIDO DE FREITAS
DATE: 13/07/2026
TIME: 14:00
LOCAL: Via google meet
TITLE:

Pathways to Promoting Equity Among Community Health Workers

KEY WORDS:

Keywords: Community Health Workers. Health Promotion. Health Equity. Health Education. Health Personnel.

PAGES: 104
BIG AREA: Ciências da Saúde
AREA: Saúde Coletiva
SUBÁREA: Saúde Pública
SUMMARY:

Health work inequities constitute a structural challenge in the Brazilian context, particularly affecting professionals working on the front lines of Primary Health Care (PHC). The present study analyzes how structural inequities shape the daily routines of Community Health Workers (ACS) and Endemic Disease Control Agents (ACE), collectively referred to herein as Health Workers, seeking to understand how equity is promoted within the context of health work based on the experiences of these professionals. The specific objectives were: to identify the inequities experienced by Health Workers in their daily work; to analyze the coping strategies mobilized by these professionals, reflecting on their potential and structural limitations; and to investigate how Continuing Health Education (CHE) contributes to the promotion of equity in health work. The study adopted a qualitative, exploratory, and participatory approach. Data were collected through a workshop, which included a privilege dynamics activity, narrative letter writing, and group activities, held with 16 workers in November 2024, and through a focus group conducted with 11 participants in January 2025. Data analysis followed the Content Analysis technique proposed by Bardin. The results are presented in two scientific articles. The first article reveals the recurrence of inequities related to race, gender, sexual orientation, social class, ageism, and religion, which intersect in a cumulative manner, producing experiences of exclusion with direct repercussions on workers' mental health and professional trajectories. The coping strategies identified are predominantly individual in nature, exposing significant gaps in institutional support. The second article demonstrates that training processes grounded in CHE principles broadened participants' critical awareness, fostered the denaturalization of inequities, strengthened communication and professional identity, encouraged intervention in the face of injustice, and reinforced a collective sense of belonging. Taken together, the results demonstrate that structural inequities remain central challenges for Health Workers, while Continuing Health Education emerges as a tool capable of promoting critical reflection, transforming practices, strengthening identities, and enhancing the collective capacity to produce equity in health work. The final considerations reaffirm that, beyond the individual advances enabled by critical training, the consolidation of equity requires broader organizational and political transformations in the structural conditions of Brazil's Unified Health System (SUS). .

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Presidente - 1231563 - ANA KALLINY DE SOUSA SEVERO
Interna - 1242804 - ADRIANA GOMES MAGALHAES
Interno - 1119740 - MAURICIO WIERING PINTO TELLES
Externa à Instituição - LETÍCIA BATISTA DA SILVA - FIOCRUZ
Externa à Instituição - ALYNNE MENDONÇA SARAIVA NAGASHIMA - UFCG