Objective: To know the perceptions of participants in a support group for people with colostomy on the use of video as a resource for health education.
Method: Qualitative research with 16 participants in a support group for people with colostomy in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Data were collected in April and May of 2016, through a focus group, and subjected to the thematic analysis proposed by Minayo.
Results: The results led to three categories: care and self-care are learned alone: the lived reality; health education and learning through educational video: perceived opportunities; the singularities of the educational video from the viewpoint of people with colostomy and their families.
Conclusion: The scarcity of guidelines retards independence and hinders autonomy in care and self-care. The audio-visual technology applied in this study complements the educational guidelines, and can enable changes and the opportunity to rethink pedagogical nursing practices.