title: [Autonomy as a central criterion in the concept of health promotion].
abstract: This article presents the central concepts of the multiple case study "Health Promotion in Primary Care" conducted by Nescon-UFMG in 2005. Teams of the Family Health Program developed twelve health promotion experiences in different Brazilian regions. After a conceptual revision and field research, health promotion was defined as the process of improving the health of people independently of any previous disease or injury, helping them to increase control over their health. We also concluded that an increased autonomy, understood as the capacity and possibility of the persons to choose, is the central category and criterion for defining health promotion practices.
authors.affiliation: Núcleo de Estudos em Saúde Coletiva, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, 30130-100. paulofleury@medicina.ufmg.br
authors.forename: Paulo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fleury-Teixeira
authors.forename: Fernando Antônio Camargo
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Vaz
authors.forename: Francisco Carlos Cardoso
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: de Campos
authors.forename: Juliana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Alvares
authors.forename: Raphael Augusto Teixeira
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Aguiar
authors.forename: Vinícius de Araújo
authors.initials: Vde A
authors.lastname: Oliveira
mesh_terms: D001938:Brazil; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D026684:Personal Autonomy