As representações sociais das pessoas com tuberculose sobre o retratamento

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) is, over the years, the most fatal infectious disease and one of the top ten causes of death on the planet. The aim of this research was to analyze the social representations of people living with tuberculosis about the experience of being treat again. We opted for the qualitative approach and we used as theoretical reference the Theory of Social Representations of Serge Moscovici. We selected for this study 10 people in retreatment of tuberculosis, who were in care in public services in Juiz de Fora. The gathered information was organized according to Bardin's content analysis method. The social representations about the disease allowed the elaboration of the category: Normality x Danger. From the representations about (re)treatment the following categories were listed: The experience of previous treatments; The place of welcome; The expectation regarding (re)treatment. The disease had a representation of normality in the midst of vulnerability, but also of danger, threat to life and reason for social isolation. We can say that fear was significant in the composition of negative representations of tuberculosis, assuming different perspectives: the fear of transmitting the disease, which leads to isolation; the fear of contagion, which generates prejudice; and the fear of worsening symptoms leading to death. These findings reveal that, despite being a millennial disease, tuberculosis is still better known for its taboos than for its scientific evidence, demonstrating the relevance of using the Serge Moscovici Social Representations framework. The social representations of tuberculosis and its treatment reveal the meanings of experiencing the disease and the attitudes towards coping with it. We suggest that managers should prioritize a better articulation of health services between themselves as well alongside other support services