Objective: to identify the factors that determine the implementation of educational practices of health promotion and to construct proposals to implement the educational actions of the nurses of the Family Health Units (FHU).
Method: research-action in which individual interviews and focus group were conducted, with 17 nurses from 12 FHU in the city of Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre state, Brazil. The results were organized by the thematic analysis method.
Results: the thematic units emerged from the analysis: dichotomy between knowledge and doing in the production of care and health; the nurse's qualification for educational practices; and conditions favorable to health education practices.
Conclusion: the thematic analysis showed that the educational practice is hampered by the high demand for care in the unit, lack of physical structure and professional qualification for health education. In the action phase, nurses and local managers agreed on actions to improve the quality of educational practices.