Interrelations between occupational involvement and health perception from the perspective of adolescents

Abstract

Introduction: Adolescence is a fertile period for developing health promotion actions. Reflections on how adolescents engage in daily occupations and how these relate to their health perception provide important insights for the development of health education actions. Objective: To understand the interrelationships between occupational involvement and health perception from the perspective of adolescents. Method: Qualitative study based on Paulo Freire’s thematic investigation. The research was conducted in a municipal public school, with 33 adolescents aged 13 to 16 years, in four stages: familiarization with the field, reality reading, coding seminars, and problematization. Data were collected through focus groups and participant observation and subjected to thematic content analysis. Results: Occupational involvement interrelates in various ways with health perception in everyday life. Among the diverse occupations, the fragility of family experiences stands out for its connection with the perception of mental suffering. Involvement in occupations such as cellphone use, sleeping, school activities, household chores, leisure, friendships, and physical activities was also discussed. Situations of occupational imbalance, power inequalities (age, class, and gender), and occupational injustice were identified, which intersect and limit occupational involvement, impacting health perception. Conclusion: The results support the need for participatory health education practices that enable the construction of critical awareness about occupational involvement, aiming to promote health, well-being, rights assurance, and social participation.