Oda WY, Gasparini MFV, Barbosa Filho FR, Furtado JP. Polysemy and polyvalence in the concept of participation in health assessment in Brazil. Interface (Botucatu). 2026; 30: e250008 Doi: https://doi.org/10.1590/interface.250008
Abstract
We sought to understand how the concept of participation has functioned and produced meaning in participatory health assessments. We began by searching the Lilacs database for articles published in national journals. The 44 articles found were read in their entirety, seeking to identify syntactic regularities and effects attributed to participation. Drawing on Michel Pêcheux’s discourse analysis, these articles were used as primary sources of discursive processes. The meanings produced, reclaimed from assertions that form a “memory” of participation, were established from a discursive network that combined methodological-operational elements with conceptions of popular participation and the struggle for rights, but under the silencing of “Marxist” theoretical elements. There is a need to take a closer look at participatory assessments, going beyond their application as a management tool, investigating their application as a field of political practice.
Keywords
Health assessment; Participatory health assessment; Discourse analysis
Access in: https://doi.org/10.1590/interface.250008
