This study was based on exploratory research and a qualitative approach within the framework of the Social Representations Theory. It aims to capture the social representations of healthcare providers in relation to HIV/AIDS by describing their structure. The Free Evocations technique was applied on 86 professionals of HIV/AIDS benchmark services in Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil, from 2011 to 2013. Analysis using EVOC 2005 software showed that the possible central core is prejudice in a negative attitude dimension; in the contrast zone, chronic disease translates living with the disease. In the first periphery, treatment and disease in a clinical/biometric conception; in the second periphery, death has a imagistic and negative nature. Positive and negative elements were observed, allowing healthcare personnel to construct meaning attributed to the phenomenon and reflect on their practices.
Social perception; HIV; Health personnel; Nursing
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