application of freire’s theory in health promotion interventions: a narrative review

Background and objective: freire’s approach emphasizes the social determinants of health and aligns with health promotion by fostering critical awareness and collective action. despite its potential, a systematic synthesis of its application in health interventions is lacking. this narrative review examines the application of freire’s theory in health promotion interventions, with a focus on participants (e.g., healthcare workers, community members, etc.), interventions (e.g., culture circles, educational programs, etc.), and outcomes (e.g., empowerment, behavioral change, etc.). methods: we conducted a prisma-compliant narrative review of studies from 2015 to 2023 using pubmed, scopus, web of science, and google scholar. search terms included “freire theory”, “health promotion intervention”, “critical consciousness”, and “empowerment”. two reviewers independently screened titles/abstracts, extracted data (e.g., study design, sample characteristics, and key findings), and assessed quality using standardized criteria for quantitative and qualitative research. findings: of 144 identified studies, 6 met the inclusion criteria. freire’s framework consistently enhanced health promotion by fostering dialogue, critical thinking, and empowerment across diverse settings (e.g., rural elderly, nurses, adolescents, etc.). key outcomes included improved self-medication behaviors (gharouni et al., 2021) and reduced moral distress in nurses (nancy, 2020). conclusion: results underscore the significance of freire’s theory in health promotion. limitations include small sample sizes and reliance on self-reports. future research should prioritize larger, more diverse samples and longitudinal designs.