Diálogos sobre desinformação na Atenção Primária à Saúde: Perspectivas de usuários e profissionais no contexto da pandemia de COVID-19 no Rio de Janeiro/RJ

Abstract

This thesis investigates the phenomenon of health disinformation in the context of Primary Health Care in the city of Rio de Janeiro during the COVID-19 pandemic, understanding it as a strategic point for confronting the problem. The study adopts a participatory-evaluative approach based on mixed methods, using data triangulation through the application of sociodemographic questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and the development of thematic workshops with representative participants from the two central research groups: users and health professionals working in Primary Care. The methodology articulates an integrative literature review with the systematic analysis of empirical data collected in specific territories of the municipality, organizing the information into analytical categories that emerged directly from the participants' narrative experiences. Were interviewed 8 health professionals and 18 patients, in addition to 383 completed surveys. The results reveal the profound and multifaceted impacts of the infodemic on daily healthcare, demonstrating how disinformation and denialism permeate work relationships, affect institutional trust, and compromise adherence to health measures, with particularly severe consequences for COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and the worsening of psychological distress among both professionals and users. The analysis identifies that the disinformation phenomenon extends beyond the immediate pandemic context, contaminating other immunization campaigns and undermining scientific credibility in the long term. The research finds that the Primary Health Care territory constitutes a privileged space for qualified listening, building trust, and developing contextualized communication strategies to combat fake news, where technical-scientific knowledge dialogues with local knowledge and community experiences. The thematic workshops proved to be powerful instruments for building participatory evaluative practices on disinformation, empowering those involved in recognizing and combating false news. The conclusions point to the urgent need to strengthen the Unified Health System by integrating the right to communication as an inseparable dimension of the right to health, valuing educational strategies that start from specific territorial realities. The thesis demonstrates that effectively combating disinformation requires actions sustained by active community participation and the recognition of local knowledge as fundamental to health promotion, ultimately offering substantive lessons for building a more just, democratic, and resilient post-pandemic Brazil in the face of the informational challenges of the 21st century