University training of community health caregivers

Abstract

This article presents an annual training activity undertaken over five years, workshops open to all community members that are health caregivers (formal, non formal and informal). This takes place within a research project on ‘Suffering, Education and Health’ which aims to articulate comprehensive and substantiated research with knowledge and practical competences of community health caregivers. We start by discussing the difficulty of working transdisciplinary within Portuguese universities, as well as the prejudice against the communities in which they are located. Then we present each of the workshops, their respective general themes and how they were exploited in each of them. We developed an overall assessment of each one, especially when taking into account pedagogical level as well as, among other factors, the assessment of trainees. We conclude with an overall assessment of these training activities, pointing out limitations and new perspectives for the future.