Objective

Understand the health promotion practices developed by primary health care nurses in a southern county of Brazil, in the care of people with chronic non-communicable diseases.

Method

Qualitactive research, developed by multiple speeches, in twenty three health centers of a southern county of Brazil.

Results

According to speeches, the health promotion practices developed by nurses refer to two main fields, of the five action fields proposed by the Ottawa Letter: reorientation of the health system and developing personal abilities. It appeared as a speech, related to the central idea about the limits to developing fields of the Ottawa letter.

Conclusions

Besides the efforts spent to develop health promotion practices, these appear in some moments in an amplified way, thinking in a new logic to Health promotion and in other situations it shows itself in a more restrictive way, returning to a more traditional practice.