DIALOGUE BETWEEN THE TECHNICAL-SCIENTIFIC AND POPULAR KNOWLEDGE

It's not possible to think of promoting health without education. For this reason, it's desirable that the social practices in this field always seek greater approximation and interchange. In all society, health care ways are normally measured by informal and institutional educational processes presented in social relations. Many professionals ignore the fact that they educate even when they do not have such intention, while others reproduce a vertical and depersonalized educative action based on a restricted comprehension of health as lack of disease and of education as mere information transmission. The objective of the present study is to promote the dialogue between the technical-scientific knowledge and the popular one acquired by the elderly. The work was developed with 60 elder people members of the Pastoral of the Elderly group in Petropolis neighborhood, Manaus, Amazon, Brazil. The intent was to develop a Popular Education in Health methodology starting from the idea that the promotion of elderly health is constructed with them, and not for them, involving in this process experiences able to stimulate critical reflections in the elderly about themselves and their reality. Conversation circles were performed weekly by the own elderly during nine months, with various topics chosen by them. leaflets and conversation circles were carried out, in which the own elderly collaborated with the choice of subjects taking into consideration the necessity of their fellows. It was observed that the themes of greatest interest were: abuse and elderly rights. The information became relevant for their daily lives, incentivizing change of habits and improving knowledge about health and quality of life for them and their family. The interaction with the group of elderly allowed to raise curiosity, uneasiness and popular knowledge related to the practice of healthy habits as well as issues demanded by the elderly. The conversation circle allowed a greater intergenerational bond, in which young students and the elderly exchanged experience, strengthening the respect that must exist among generations.