Language, Literacy, and Health: Discourse in Brazils National Health System

(Hardback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

Language, Literacy, and Health: Discourse in Brazils National Health System analyzes language, literacy, and health as social practices, with a focus on Brazils national health system, the Unified Health System (SUS). The SUS was established in the 1990s, offering free consultations, health promotion activities, and home visits by a professional team to the Brazilian population, and of particular interest is the Family Health Strategy program. This book is based on research conducted in two different Brazilian regions, the Northeast and the Southeast. Izabel Magalhes and Knia Lara da Silva discuss language and literacy as discoursea very important dimension of health practiceand different uses of texts, including multimodal texts. The research and analysis, and the authors ethnographic approach, bring to light some issues with SUS practices, and the authors suggest improvements. The book contributes to the debate about language and literacy in health practices, in which patients are partly responsible for keeping well.

Reviews

"Constructing relationships that are nurturing, supportive, and responsive to the needs of patients within health care systems is one of the big social challenges across national boundaries. By exploring a broad and transdisciplinary approach involving language studies and health to examine health practices in Brazil, Magalhes andda Silva take forward our understanding of how power relations impact the quality of attendance offered to and aimed at by patients. The cases examined in this book shed light on communication problems experienced by patients, nurses, doctors, and policy makers in navigating complex health systems within and across national boundaries. Particularly, this exciting book helps us to understand the role of language, literacy, and multimodal resources in the construction of health ideologies in contexts marked by social, educational, and economic inequalities."

"This volume provides an invaluable ethnographically informed resource, exploring the role of language and literacy in the delivery and uptake of healthcare in Brazil as well as its potential to increase equity and access to health services."

Author Bio

Izabel Magalhes is a researcher in discourse analysis and literacy.

Knia Lara da Silva is part of the teaching staff of the Graduate Program in Nursing of the Federal University of Minas Gerais, in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.