Social Representations about people with HIV/AIDS among Nurses: a mute zone study / As representações sociais acerca das pessoas com HIV/AIDS entre enfermeiros: um estudo da zona muda

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2007

RESUMO

The purpose of this study was to analyze the content and structure of nurses social representations about people with HIV/AIDS, considering their explicit and non-explicit elements. This quali-quantitative, descriptive study, guided by the structural approach to social representations, was conducted in two field stages at a university hospital in Rio de Janeiro City. The first stage involved applying the free evocation and proxy techniques, using the stimulus-term person with HIV/AIDS, in which 150 nurses responded for themselves (the normal situation) and then as if they were people in general (the proxy situation). These data were analyzed by the Student-t Test and by constructing four-box charts, assisted by EVOC 2003 software. The second stage entailed applying a questionnaire to 30 nurses, containing qualifying and Likert scale questions, using the challenge or scrutiny technique, and on the risk of nurses being infected by HIV. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The results revealed various elements in the representation analyzed. In the normal situation, the core cognitions were professional-care-precaution, health education and treatment, while the elements help, controlling the disease, hope, family, drugs, prevention and solidarity stood out for the importance attributed to them. Treatment was confirmed as the core cognition, with prevention as possibly core. In the proxy situation, the core cognitions were homosexuality, fear, prejudice, while contamination, contagion, disease and sexual practice were prominent in order of importance. The mute zone hypothesis was examined in making the social representation explicit: the elements identified were homosexuality, fear, sexual practice, promiscuity, death and drug use. The mute zone hypothesis was corroborated, rather than a possible representational transparency effect, by 1) the subjects evaluating positively the aspects of the normal situation and negatively those of the proxy situation; 2) their successive negation of the contra-normative elements in the various instruments used and 3) the norms opposing discrimination against people with HIV/AIDS and homophobia. Respondents were also observed to consider that nurses vulnerability to HIV is low in their hospital work and high in their private life. It was concluded that a process of change has been underway in social representations of HIV/AIDS since it has become possible to live with the disease and the importance of death is declining. Meanwhile, the possibility of significant permanence was also revealed, consisting of elements identified as probably belonging to the mute zone in the social representations studied and linking people with HIV/AIDS to homosexuality, sexual practice and promiscuity, drug use and death, as well as attitudes of prejudice and feelings of fear.

ASSUNTO(S)

aids (doença) pacientes nursing portador social representations person with hiv/aids representações sociais enfermagem enfermagem em saúde pública aids mute zone enfermagem de saude publica aids zona muda

ACESSO AO ARTIGO

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