OBJECTIVES: To know the perceptions of undergraduate nursing students regarding the way they view the body of the client and to categorize the themes that emerged from the students' perceptions. METHODS: The data were obtained through unstructured interviews of 20 undergraduate nursing students who were in difference placement in the undergraduate curriculum at the Federal University of São Paulo. Content analysis technique was used to identify and categorize the themes. RESULTS: The following themes have emerged: Adaptation to the care of the client body, body as an object, invasion of the client privacy, student-client interaction, corporal expression, sick body and loss of the autonomy, knowing one's own body prior to care for the body of someone else, depersonalized body, stigmatization, influences of values, body and gender; and representation. FINAL CONSIDERATIONS: The topic "body" consists of a universe of objective and subjective elements that might be considered when teaching undergraduate nursing students how to take care of the body of the client.
Body; Students nursing; Education nursing; Applied psychology
