CONTRIBUTIONS OF TEACHING IN THE COMMUNITY FOR HEALTHCARE TRAINING PRACTICE
Collaborative Learning. Higher Education. Interdisciplinary Practices. Unified Health System (SUS).
Background:Education in health directly influences the quality of services offered to the population and enables students to engage at various levels of healthcare. Community-based education focuses on the perspective of student development and integration into field practices, facilitating the appropriation of territory and local potentialities. This approach brings students closer to the cultural and socioeconomic values of families and communities. It was within this framework that the curricular component "Health and Citizenship" (Saúde e Cidadania - SACI) was created for students at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN). Objective: To analyze the contributions of community-based education to the formation of healthcare professionals from the perspective of students. Methodology: This is an exploratory study employing a qualitative approach, utilizing information collected from student portfolios regarding their community experiences. Bardin's content analysis was used for comprehensive data description and analysis, supplemented by Minayo's systematization method to manually establish categories. Results: Portfolio analysis enabled the construction of three thematic categories: Contribution to professional formation; Strengths and weaknesses of community-based education; Importance of teamwork for education. Conclusion: Community-based education emerges as an enriching formative tool that positively impacts health education, fostering the development of critical thinking skills in students.