Base teórica en tesis de maestría del Instituto de Salud Pública de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia, 2000-2005

objective: to explore theories and theoretical models used in theses in master degrees at public health institute, national university of colombia. methods: in june 2005 the central library of national university was visited for a trained reader to review theses on public health or infections-tropical health finished from january 2000 to may 2005. results: fifty theses, 34 on public health and 16 on infections-tropical health were evaluated, which included an average of 22 pages of theoretical framework. only 5 (10%) theses, 4 in public health and 1 in tropical health, used theoretical basis according to the criteria previously established. conclusions: application of theoretical basis to direct the theme, methodology and analysis of reviewed degree theses, finished between 2000 and 2005 is lower than expected