Popular education in health with fishermen: an experience outside the nurse's "comfort zone"

Abstract

Objective: To reflect about a participatory educational activity developed with a group of artisanal fishermen, of a community in the city of São Gonçalo, Rio de Janeiro. Such action was contextualized by previous findings related to socio-demographic and clinical and lcoal environmental pollution issues. Method: Four fishermen with fishing time between 2 and 20 years participated in the activity. The activity took place in the morning in July, after insertion of the researcher in the scenario in the previous six months. Results: The main difficulties encountered by the fishermen in fishing activity, questions about health problems such as hypertension and diabetes mellitus, presence of wounds and treatment modalities were researched using participatory strategy associated with teaching resources. Conclusion: The experience helped identify singularities and challenges faced by the group. At the end, a banner was elaborated containing educational guidelines constructed with the fishermen.