EDUCATE TO TREAT: A CASE STUDY ON LITERACY AMONG CHILDREN WITH CHRONIC ILLNESSES AT A UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL

Abstract

This study analyses hospital pedagogy as an educational strategy linked to comprehensive care for children in hospital, especially in situations of social and clinical vulnerability. The research stems from the need to understand how a lack of literacy can compromise adherence to health treatment, directly affecting the therapeutic process of paediatric patients with chronic diseases. The investigation adopts a qualitative approach and a theoretical-deductive method, based on a case study of an 11-year-old child diagnosed with nephrotic syndrome, admitted to the Professor Alberto Antunes University Hospital (HUPAA) in Maceió, Alagoas. The methodological procedures include participant observation, field diary recording, and analysis of pedagogical materials applied during educational interventions. The analysis process follows a descriptive-interpretative approach, allowing the identification of meanings attributed by the child to pedagogical practices, as well as the effects of these practices on the acquisition of reading and writing skills. The conceptual framework articulates the notions of functional literacy, the right to education in health and comprehensive care contexts, understanding hospital pedagogy as a field of intersection between education and health, which values the uniqueness of individuals and their learning processes during hospitalisation. The results reveal that the development of playful and contextualised pedagogical activities in a hospital setting, with an emphasis on reading and writing based on the identification of medications, contributes to the advancement of children's literacy, promoting their autonomy in treatment, reducing the risks of incorrect administration of medications and, consequently, unnecessary hospitalisations. The research shows that educational intervention in a hospital environment positively influences children's response to health treatment and their understanding of their own therapeutic regimen, as it increases their capacity for engagement and self-care. It is concluded that hospital pedagogy, by incorporating the educational dimension into daily clinical practice, represents an effective strategy for promoting the integral development of children undergoing health treatment, especially in cases where functional literacy is a determining factor for quality of life and treatment success.