Impacto de atividades educativas em saúde na melhoria dos processos de leitura em adolescentes em Manaus

Abstract

Reading goes beyond decoding words, requiring understanding and integration with prior knowledge. Difficulties in reading can arise when these processes do not occur in a coordinated manner for multifactorial reasons. Thus, this research investigated the impact of educational activities on improving reading processes in adolescents. The assessment was carried out through the Reading Process Assessment Tests (PROLEC-SE-R) before and after the academic activities in health. This study was characterized as practical action research of a descriptive and exploratory nature, with a quantitative and qualitative approach, and was carried out with female adolescents aged 12 years old, in a state school in Manaus. Fifteen adolescents participating in 15 activities on the following themes were evaluated: healthy eating, women’s health, sexuality, violence, nonviolent communication, emotional intelligence, self-knowledge, women’s role in society, financial education, sustainability, the environment, music, and reading. In the initial assessment, most participants had difficulties in one or more reading processes (60%; 9/15). Difficulty in one or more reading processes was associated with the variable living with the mother or father (p=0.044) since 100% (9/15) of the participants with reading difficulties lived with only one parent or with other legal representatives. After the health education activities, the results of the reapplication of the reading process tests showed that, for the lexical process, there were statistically significant improvements (lexical selection, p=0.049; semantic categorization, p=0.002). Regarding the adolescents’ perceptions, challenges were identified, such as the timing of the test application, syntactic functions, textual comprehension, lack of family encouragement, and institutional barriers. These factors highlight the importance of rethinking the reading environment and promoting the development of a critical approach to essential topics related to adolescent girls’ health