[Participative action research; self-care education for the mature adult, a dialogic and empowered process].

OBJECTIVE: Explore and transform dialogic-reflexive learning processes oriented to self-care, capacitation, empowerment and health promotion for "mature-adult" collective.

DESIGN: Participative action research on a qualitative and sociocritic approach. Data generation methods are SITE: Field work focuses on the development of the educational program "Care is in your hands" that takes place in two villages (Primary Care. Comarca Araba).

PARTICIPANTS: Through a theoretical sampling involved people who are in a "mature-adult" life stage and three nurses with extensive experience in development health education programs.

METHODS: Participant observation where health education sessions are recorded in video and group reflection on action. To triangulate the data, have been made in-depth interviews with 4 participants. Carried out a content and discourse analysis.

RESULTS: Participant and nurses' Previous Frameworks, and these last ones' discourses as well, reveal a current technical rationality (unidirectional, informative,.) yet in practice that perpetuates the role of passive recipient of care. Educational keys constructed from a viewpoint of Dialogic Learning emerge as elements that facilitate overcoming these previous frames limitations. Finally, Reflective Learning launched, has provided advance in professional knowledge and improve health education.

CONCLUSIONS: Dialogical learning emerges as key to the training and empowerment, where we have seen how practical-reflexive, and not technical, rationality is meanly useful confronting ambiguous and complex situations of self-care practice and education.