The World Health Organization (2002) considers that a balance between government, community, and individual action is necessary for health education and promotion, recognizing that non-governmental organizations, local groups, and community institutions are central in this process. This argument reinforces the idea that individuals should be empowered and encouraged to make use of accurate health-related information. This paper highlights the potential of a socio-political perspective for the development of health literacy within children and adolescents and presents two studies conducted in two daily life contexts: a community organization and a school. Both studies are based on methodological pluralism and collaborative research approaches and explore the promotion of health knowledge in formal and informal settings. Study 1 is based on a mixed methodology, using focus group discussions and questionnaires with children and youth with chronic diseases to explore the perceived impact of their participation in support associations. Study 2 presents four intensive case-studies in schools where adolescents used community profiling, a participatory research methodology, to explore health rights and access to healthcare in both a historical and prospective vision. The results enable a deeper understanding on how powerful tool ccommunity resources can be for individual and collective empowerment on health issues.

This paper focuses on the life experiences of children with chronic disease, a group whose invisibility involves particular challenges in their relationship with professionals in important life contexts, such as family, school and hospital. The study includes two complementary phases: i) Phase 1, composed of 15 interviews with parents, education and health professionals and two focus group discussions with children, and children and their mothers; and ii) Phase 2, which included self-report questionnaires administered to parents (n = 152) and children with chronic disease (n = 176). Based on a mixed methodology, this study combines quantitative and qualitative methods assuming that plural approaches allow for a deeper understanding of the life conditions of children with chronic disease and their families. The results reinforce the reproduction of social stereotypes and the tendency to focus on the individual ability to solve problems, which still remain to be circumscribed to the people’s chronic disease sphere. Moreover, this paper reveals the central role that inclusive contexts have on children’s wellbeing.

The mission of higher education institutions (HEI) includes fostering conditions that enable student participation, and a commitment to their professional success. Pedagogical strategies which combine learning that goes beyond the university and involves a service-learning (SL) course carried out in the context of a pedagogical innovation programme of the University of Porto were examined. This examination included interviews with teachers, a focus group discussion with students and the analysis of logbooks and final reports to realize the potential of SL for improving employability. The results put into perspective the weaknesses and potentialities of SL courses at HEI and show that when academic learning is integrated with community experience, students gain both personal/social and academic skills. They also develop leadership and communication skills and critical awareness on the one hand and time and resources management and the ability to adapt and respond to challenges of the real world on the other, all seen as beneficial for the transition into the labour market.

In spite of becoming progressively common, chronic diseases are quite invisible in modern societies, as these silent diseases are relatively absent from public socio-political debates. As a consequence, social agents and institutions seem to reveal significant difficulties in coping with the singularities of children and adolescents with a chronic disease and their parents. This article stresses the importance of recognising children and adolescents with a chronic disease as citizens who have both special needs and special rights, and emphasises the important role of support associations as mediators among various actors in the health sphere (private, public, political, medical institutions …). This research focuses on the empowerment, well-being and participation behind the experience of chronic conditions as perceived by children and adolescents with chronic illnesses, their families, and health and educational professionals. The data collected includes interviews, focus group discussions, questionnaires and a family narrative. The results suggest that there is a strong need for alternative discourses about citizenship and participation in the life experiences of people with a chronic disease, especially because the quality of their life contexts appears to be a determinant factor for well-being and empowerment.

Resumo: É sabido que à escola chegam crianças e jovens com diferentes pontos de partida. O que não se sabe ao certo é até onde chegam essas crianças e jovens, e que percurso a escola lhes reserva, particularmente numa altura em que os profissionais de educação se veem divididos entre inúmeras tarefas (algumas meramente administrativas) e parece cada vez mais comum atribuir-se ao comportamento "pouco adequado" dos alunos explicações de natureza tendencialmente biomédica. Face à emergência crescente de transtornos e déficits torna-se, assim, inevitável refletir criticamente acerca do que efetivamente acarretam em termos de saúde pública. Este artigo centra-se numa investigação acerca do papel da escola no sucesso educativo e no desenvolvimento integral dos alunos sinalizados ou com indicação médica para ingestão de medicação a partir de diagnósticos "nebulosos". O conceito de medicalização adquire uma dimensão central e as suas implicações são discutidas baseando-se num conjunto de notas de campo e entrevistas realizadas com pais e profissionais de educação da Zona Norte de Portugal.