Is there a field and a concept in the study of public policy for the effectiveness of health promotion? ; Existe um campo e um conceito no estudo da política pública efetivando a promoção da saúde?

Abstract

Criticism of common thought on politics is indispensable when pondering the interface established with academic knowledge, which is constructed on the grounds of the uncertainty of the sciences and of the dialectical interlocution between convergences and divergences in the formulation and/or reformulation of concepts, in addition to the construction of a possible field of studies on public policies and their applicability. In the context of health promotion, it is essential to disseminate the broad idea that this field cuts across the core human needs; therefore, promoting health nowadays presupposes understanding public policies and their constant conflicts and convergences in search of models that meet the intangible social demands. Because of this dual construction that originates from the common sense and the epistemic bulge, the study of public policy is not restricted to a single academic subject, which brings to the fore the importance of understanding the field as a constructor of academic knowledge in multiple subjects. This premise can be proven by the challenges in presenting theories, methods and tools exclusively designed to study the theme(1). This polarization has gained great importance due to the urgency of decision making by public managers and reverberates in current context of health education, particularly regarding its promotion. There has been an attempt to optimize "expertise" as one that is developed under the auspices of "best scientific evidence". In this logic, if scientific evidence is needed for teaching in general, one can use syllogism and think that the same holds true for the teaching of public policies aimed at promoting health. However, questions about the teaching of public policies emerge in overwhelming ways and require reflection on the concepts inherent to the field in order to decide what to teach, how to teach and when to teach. The teaching of health promotion demands a discussion about the contradictions of the contexts and the particularities of the different ...