Health and place perceptions: an educative experience combining poetry and One Health perspective in teenagers from urban vulnerable communities of Brazil

ABSTRACT

Neighbourhoods are fundamental urban elements. When conditions are not suitable, some become vulnerable (VC). In Brazil, 11 million people live in VC. Concerning health issues, they need to be addressed in a trans-disciplinary manner as proposed by One Health (OH) perspective. Artistic language helps to communicate perceptions, and poetry has been used as a means of supporting knowledge construction. This manuscript discusses the approach of OH for teenagers of two VCs, through perception and poetic language. Questionnaires about Health and Place were applied, and a poetry-based product was built. A common concern about environmental and social issues was reflected. The introduction of OH brought new words to the discussion, while poetry allowed students to speak freely. These studies help to understand health issues for teenagers, becoming important sources to develop strategies that tend to mitigate risks. We hope this experience contributes to its replication in other areas of the world.

KEYWORDS:

• Health
• place
• poetry
• One Health
• perception
• teenagers
• vulnerable communities
• Brazil

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank all the people from the communities of Marechal Rondón and Alto do Cabrito who allowed the development of the project, and particularly to the coordinators of the Emília Machado and É ao quadrado community spaces: Edlane Leal and Elizete Cardoso. Also to the students from the Federal University of Bahia who collaborated in the activities: Katharine Cardoso, Bruna Silva and Igor Santana.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Council of Technical and Scientific Research (CONICET), Argentina; and Collective Health Institute (ISC), Brazil.