Adolescência e sexualidade: educação em saúde para o autocuidado

Abstract

Herein we study the perception of adolescents regarding the care required as a process in the construction oftheir understanding in order to have self-care for maintain life and their well-being in the area oftheir sexuality. The approach is in a setting of health education in the light of OrenTs theory in the understanding (conception) of the object of the study. We airn to investigate, the adolescents’ perception of self-care, regarding sexuality in the biological, socio-cultural and emotional aspects, from the daily activities ofthe adolescent. We aim to discover the forms of self-care of the adolescents in their relatíonships (biological, social and emotional - as well as understanding the meaning and their desires regarding their willingness to care for themselves in the area of sexuality). We use, for collecting data, the focus group, participative observation and a semi-structured íntervíew with open ended questions, with 30 adolescents between the ages of 10 and .19 in a public school in Fortaleza. We verified that the adolescents understanding the meaníng ofself-care as a human capacity for maintaíning corporal hygiene, associated with self-image and self- esteem, as well as in the treatment and cure of illnesses. Their perspective is primarily biological and care with appearance. In this manner we constructed the meaníng of the care moving to the focus of the understanding of the questions of living as a sexual being, showing that the adolescents associate sexuality primarily with biological and reproductive aspects of living. We consider this study to be only the beginning of investigations within the cultural universe (family, school, community and Services) which involves adolescents when dealing with sexuality. We recommend that further studies be conducted in this area usíng Orem in the search for answers, Solutions, orminímizing the issues which make this group so vulnerable in their perceptions of self-care regarding sexuality.