Towards a New Horizon in Educational Sciences: Interdisciplinary and Sustainable Continuing Health Education from the Perspective of Social Phenomenology

Abstract

Introduction: Continuing education in health faces challenges such as knowledge fragmentation and the limited incorporation of sustainability and interdisciplinarity into training models. The objective of this research was to outline a comprehensive theoretical framework supporting interdisciplinary and sustainable continuing education in health, based on professional experiences within their practical context. Methods: Qualitative study with an emergent design, supported by Alfred Schütz's social phenomenology. The setting included public and private health institutions, with five key informants participating through purposeful sampling. Information was gathered via semi-structured interviews and non-participant observation, applying a systematic analysis based on meaning units, typifications, and understanding patterns linked to life-worlds (Lebenswelt). Results: Narratives evidenced that continuing education transcends technical updating, configuring itself as an intersubjective experience of rebuilding the professional stock of knowledge. Interdisciplinarity acts as an active integration of knowledges to solve complex problems, while sustainability emerges as a cross-cutting ethical principle redefining professional practice in its individual, social, and environmental dimensions. Pedagogically, the need for adaptive models that overcome traditional knowledge transmission and rescue lived experience is highlighted. Conclusions: Interdisciplinarity and sustainability constitute fundamental pillars for professional practice transformation and healthcare systems strengthening. Findings align with approaches on interdisciplinary competencies and are complemented by the Latin American perspective of sentipensante praxis, integrating rational and emotional dimensions