This work is a cross-sectional descriptive study, aiming at identifying the Social Representations related with hypertension and the therapeutics that contribute to the adherence or nonadherence in its treatment of elderly patients. Data were collected between June and September 2010 through the interviews carried out with 99 hypertensive elderly residents in two rural districts of the city of Governador Valadares, Minas Gerais. The Morisky-Green test was used for the assessment of adherence and for the investigation of Social Representation in the technique of free association of words. EVOC software enabled the identification of the core of representation, and the elements most often cited by participants were: Headache, Heart, Stroke, Death, and nervousness. It was concluded that the social representations that the elderly have in relation to therapeutic influence the different levels of adherence to the treatment. In addition, these representations affect how patients use drugs and adopt the suggestions for health care.
hypertension; elderly; social representation