The impact of the diagnosis of tuberculosis through its social representations

• Published in: Revista Brasileira de Enfermagem Vol. 72; no. 5; pp. 1189 - 1196
• Main Authors: Gama, Kamila Nancy Gonçalves da, Palmeira, Iací Proença, Rodrigues, Ivaneide Leal Ataíde, Ferreira, Angela Maria Rodrigues, Ozela, Claudia Dos Santos
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Brazil Associação Brasileira de Enfermagem 01-10-2019
• Subjects: Adult; Brazil; Chi-Square Distribution; Diagnosis; Female; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; HIV; Human immunodeficiency virus; Humans; Infectious diseases; Internet; Knowledge, Attitudes and Practice in Health; Male; Medical diagnosis; Patients; Psychosocial Impact; Qualitative Research; Social Identification; Social Psychology; Society; Tuberculosis; Tuberculosis - diagnosis; Tuberculosis - psychology; Brazil
• ISSN: 0034-7167; 1984-0446; 1984-0446
• DOI: 10.1590/0034-7167-2017-0881

To identify people's way of acting after the diagnosis of tuberculosis, through their social representations about the disease.
Qualitative and descriptive study based on the Theory of Social Representations, in which 23 patients of a school health center in Belém, PA, Brazil, participated. The software ALCESTE was used to generate a class concerning the impact of the diagnosis in people's lives.
The dimension of a new reality caused by the diagnosis of tuberculosis is linked with the image of dirt, (process of objectification) communicable/mortal disease that exclude, causing sorrow, despair and revolt (dimension of the affections), reverberating in the patients' actions (dimension of action).
global knowledge about tuberculosis, linking the knowledge of everyday life with the reified universe, pointing the multidimensionality of the phenomenon. The conclusion is that investing in the deconstruction of archaic beliefs about the tuberculosis that kills, replacing it with the curable tuberculosis, is necessary.