ENSINO DO PENSAMENTO CRÍTICO SOBRE SAÚDE MEDIADO POR TECNOLOGIAS DIGITAIS : ANÁLISE QUALITATIVA DO CONTEXTO BRASILEIRO

Abstract

People who are more engaged in their health are more inclined to seek and use information to support their health decisions, and Critical Thinking (CP) emerges as an element capable of assisting in the analysis of health information and decision-making from an individual perspective and collective. The teaching of critical thinking favors an emancipatory education and contextualizes the individual with the environment and society around him, gives protagonism to the student, and hopes to form citizens capable of understanding and intervening in social contexts. Objective: The study analyzed the context of teaching critical thinking about health, mediated by Digital Information and Communication Technologies (DICT) in the school and health context in Brazil. Methods: This is a qualitative, descriptive study, which were collected between February and July 2020, in Vitória da Conquista and Foz do Iguaçú, based on semi-structured interviews and document review. National documents were intentionally selected from specific government websites for the areas of health and education. The interviews followed a script developed by the research team, which was specific for each professional category. A total of 17 interviews were carried out, 12 in Vitória da Conquista and 5 in Foz do Iguaçu. The collected data were compiled and combined, based on a research approach applied to public policies. Results: The insertion of critical thinking in curricula and official documents is present, but there are difficulties in its practical application. Learning resources to teach critical health thinking are scarce, and they focus on promoting healthy behaviors rather than thinking critically. There is great variability in the access and use of digital equipment for teaching and learning in national schools, and the main intervening factors are the stability of connections, the technological skills and attitudes of professionals in relation to the use of DICT for teaching. Although improvements in different contextual elements in Brazilian schools are being planned by local governments, these are still incipient. Conclusion: The teaching of critical thinking about health mediated by the use of TDCI is not deliberate in the Brazilian context, but there are possibilities for its insertion given its expressed potential.