[Groups in basic health attention in Porto Alegre: uses and forms of therapeutic intervention]

This article deals with groups as an assistential modality used by the services of basic health attention. Workshops, health education groups, as well as, lectures are different activities done in relation to other traditional attendances. The study that is behind this discussion had as its main aim to know the profile of assistance, under groups' organization, offered in the Units which make part of the Basic Health Network in Porto Alegre. Within a total of 124 health services, 116 professionals were approached, among them, 96 developed groups. We could verify that the groups have therapeutic relevance because they favor the sharing of information and the learning about aspects which are related to the topic health-sickness. They constitute inclusive practices, which are able to create a link with the users and the service, as well as, to reformulate the existing assistential model. Therefore, it was verified that the understanding of these practices reflects on its dimension of the group assistance qualification and also the strategic dimension of compensation in the attendance of the increasing demand of health.