The aim was to identify the social representations of women of reproductive age regarding cervical cancer precursor lesions and analyze their consequences in relation to treating and preventing them. It is qualitative research, based in the Theory of Social Representations, and was undertaken in 2009 in a public hospital in the city of Rio de Janeiro, with 30 women of reproductive age. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews. Lexical analysis was applied using the Alceste 2010 software, the results being organized into five thematic classes: disease coming from sex: from the man/partner; cure: medical care and conventional treatment; disease which comes from the street; need for changes in living habits; and the despair of the discovery of the lesions. It is concluded that the social representations of the women with cervical changes refer to interactions relating to the experiencing of sexuality, impacting the social use of their bodies, with implications for their married lives.
Oncologic nursing; Woman health; Cervical intraepithelial neoplasia
