Relational communication perspective on the processes of e-Health in Brazil: Maluco Beleza Project

Abstract

Health communication in Brazil is a field where coexists a dispute of models and concepts, currently marked by the convergence of Information Technology and Communication (ICT), known for ehealth. The aim of this article is to understand these processes with the intention of analyze participatory approaches in light of a relational perspective of communication, understood as a process of social production of meaning in the context of a social and cultural process.
After stands conduct interviews and focus groups in the "Radio Maluco Beleza", online radio program starring network users mental health, the use of ICT in health, applied from a relational perspective, can broaden and deepen possibilities of expression and promote participation. The analysis of users about the facts of daily life, even his illness, is a production of knowledge that are not covered by the hegemonic space of the media, which favor the traditionally speech such as institutions, services and equipment health. The health communication from this perspective, encourages participation and recognizes the existence of a social polyphony, with the ability to receive and expand the many voices that contain a multiplicity of possible meanings for health and life.