Resumo

SANTOS, Zélia Maria de Sousa Araújo; CAETANO, Joselany Afio  e  MOREIRA, Francisco Getúlio Alves. Parents' actions for prevention of arterial hypertension educational technology for health . Ciênc. saúde coletiva [online]. 2011, vol.16, n.11, pp. 4385-4394. ISSN 1413-8123.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1413-81232011001200011.

This participatory research aimed to evaluate behavioral changes in fifteen parents of pre-school children to prevent the risk factors of arterial hypertension, by applying education technology for health that is based on the Health Beliefs Model at a private school in Fortaleza, State of Ceará, Brazil. The field research was carried out through educational workshops and data collection through questionnaires and interviews. After organizing the data into categories, analysis was based on the premises of health education. Through the application of education technology for health, significant changes were observed in the parents' habits, besides the roles they assumed as agents of change and multipliers of educational actions in the family. Although difficulties arose in the process of change, the parents were motivated to prevent the risk factors of arterial hypertension in themselves and their children. Thus, education technology for health based on the Health Beliefs Model proved to be efficient, as significant behavioral changes occurred and the parents were motivated to prevent arterial hypertension by means of a healthy lifestyle.

Palavras-chave : Hypertension; Lifestyle; Risk factors.