[Tools for planning a project to promote adolescent health and development: the adolescents' perspective]

This qualitative study was developed with low-income teenage students from outlying cities around the Federal District, Brazil. The main objective was to identify their opinions, feelings, and information concerning the community's reality in order to implement a project to promote health care in this age group. A focal group technique was used to collect data. Two focal groups of adolescents 13 to 17 years old were conducted. Resulting data were submitted to descriptive analysis. According to the findings, adolescents have limited opportunities to engage in leisure activities. Problems in the community include lack of security, unavoidable contact with violence, and drug abuse. Adolescents understand that such problems are due to the absence of an appropriate social context. They also highlight difficulties in establishing healthy interpersonal relationships within their families. Their first feeling is one of disempowerment in dealing with prevailing conditions, but they also show willingness to become involved in community work.