Nursing, nutrition and physiotherapy students: career choice

Abstract

In the perspective of career choice, entering university encompasses meanings of self-accomplishment and social status, which are permeated by concepts and ideals people construct in their lives. This study aimed to analyze regimes of truth that permeate career choice in nursing, physiotherapy and nutrition. This qualitative-descriptive study was carried out with undergraduate freshmen. Data were collected through focus groups, evaluated by discourse analysis from a Foucaultian perspective. The following themes emerged from the analysis: - career choice: crowning a process of social differentiation, - reflexes of professions' history of acknowledgement; - career choice beyond professional projects. Discourse highlights that scientific knowledge acquires status in relations of power between different professions and society and is essential that health professional education is linked to public policies that expand the participation of different professions so as to meet demands in favor of integral care.