Social representations of undergraduates about the education through work for health program.

OBJECTIVE: analyze the social representation of undergraduates from the health area in which were scholars of PET-Saúde of the UFRJ-Macaé Professor Aloísio Teixeira Campus about this program and its contribution to the respective professional training.

METHOD: This is an exploratory, descriptive study, with a qualitative approach. A total of 38 undergraduates participated, and a professional socioeconomic questionnaire and semi-structured interview were used to collect data. To analyze the data, thematic content analysis was used.

RESULTS: The results showed that PET-Saúde integrates undergraduates, health professionals and community, seeking the interdisciplinarity and the interrelation of those involved, articulating the scientific knowledge with the common sense for the transformation of the health service.

CONCLUSION: The program encourages population's empowerment and the critical, reflexive thinking of undergraduates and professionals about the health-disease process and acts as a source of transformations in the training of health professionals in response to the demands of the Unified Health System (SUS).