Objective: To analyse the path of dialogical education in leisure and mental health in social media.
Method: Action research based on the theoretical-methodological framework of Paulo Freire, conducted with 11 nursing students of a public university in the state of Paraná, Brazil, during seven days of June 2015, in a closed group on Facebook®. The dialogues were called, 'Virtual Culture Circles' and preceded by self-administered questionnaires that addressed the relationship between leisure and mental health. The data were analysed in an interpretive way, using the encoding and decoding proposed by Freire.
Results: The students related leisure to pleasurable activities and quality of life; however, it is not widely or critically practiced in their personal lives or education.
Conclusions: The Virtual Culture Circles provided emancipatory dialogues and a critical analysis of the subject matter, with possible repercussions on the personal and professional lives of the subjects.