Health education and treatment adherence in the historical cultural

In order to better understand human beings inserted in their social, historical and cultural contexts, professionals, mainly nurses, have instigated the search for a referential other than the biological. Under the light of Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development, we discourse important theoretical questions in the face of two concrete cases of carriers of chronic ailments having difficulties to adhere to treatment. The cases were extracted from a research based on references of anthropology and ethnographic method carried on with Systemic Arterial Hypertension patients registered in a Family Health Strategic Unity in the interior of the state of Minas Gerais. For Vygotsky, the apprehension and interpretation of knowledge – such as internalization of care and its implementation as self-care – do not occur immediately. We verified the importance of the interaction process mediated by personal and virtual contact, by means of conversations, as an effective method for educational actions in healthcare, favoring both transforming actions and ressignificance of healthcare.