Social Representations of health care professionals on Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome

Suto, Cleuma Sueli Santos; Oliveira, Jeane Freitas de; Paiva, Mirian Santos

doi:10.1590/0034-7167-2015-0001

ABSTRACT

Objective:

To apprehend social representation of health care professionals on HIV/AIDS and to compare it with a subgroup of physicians.

Method:

Qualitative research based on the Theory of Social Representations. Free associations for the term HIV/AIDS were collected from 73 workers of public services specialized in HIV/AIDS, in Salvador-Bahia. The results were analyzed in the EVOC software.

Results:

For all health professionals, HIV/AIDS is associated with “prejudice, care, disease and prevention”, and for the subgroup of physicians it is associated with the term “prevention”. Health professionals represented HIV/AIDS similarly to society in general and, due to their normative character, prescribed attitudes typical of health care professionals.

Final considerations:

The findings show that, despite the advances in the health area regarding the treatment of AIDS, prejudice still persists. It is important to strengthen interdisciplinary actions focused on discussions on this theme during training, favoring the comprehensiveness of the assistance.

Descriptors:
Assistance; Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome; Health Professionals; Nursing; Semantics

[1] CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: Cleuma Sueli Santos Suto. E-mail: cleuma.suto@yahoo.com.br

Central core						Near periphery
Worker’s order			Physician’s order			Worker’s order				Physician’s order
F ≥ 6 MRO < 2.9			F ≥ 3 MRO < 2.9			F ≥ 6 MRO ≥ 2.9				F ≥ 3 MRO ≥ 2.9
Terms	F	MRO	Terms	F	MRO	Terms	F MRO			Terms	F	MRO
prejudice care disease prevention	35 17 15 14	2.371 2.235 2.200 2.500	prevention	3	2.000	treatment ignorance		14 10	3.000 3.600	care prejudice suffering	6 6 3	3.500 3.500 3.000
Near periphery						Far periphery
F< 6 MRO < 2.9			F < 3 MRO < 2.9			F < 6 MRO ≥ 2.9				F ≥ 3 MRO ≥2.9
Evocation	F	MRO	Evocation	F	MRO	Evocation		F	MRO	Evocation	F	MRO
suffering physical deterioration reception fear difficulty chronic disease epidemic vulnerability	9 8 7 7 5 5 4 4	2.111 2.625 2.429 2.571 2.600 2.200 2.500 2.750	disease chronic disease epidemic irresponsible	2 2 2 2	2.500 2.500 2.500 2.500	sexuality medication poverty death counseling adhesion treatment help love lack of care problem		6 6 6 5 4 4 4 4 4 4	3.500 4.167 3.667 3.200 3.000 4.250 3.000 3.250 4.250 3.000	death	2	3.500

Brasil