Abstract

COUTINHO, Bruno Birro  and  TRINDADE, Zeidi Araujo. Social representations of health during the treatment of leukemia and lymphoma. Psic [online]. 2006, vol.7, n.1, pp. 09-18. ISSN 1676-7314.

This work verified the social representations about health of individuals with leukemia and lymphoma, and social practices adopted upon treatment. A semi-structured interview was individually utilized in four men and four women. The data were organized in "units of meaning" extracted from the interviews. The analysis was based on three moments: diagnosis, treatment, and post-treatment. The diagnosis was associated to the idea of death, what brought the immediate search for treatment. The predominant element in the social representations of health was the absence of disease. During the treatment health becomes sometimes also the return to normal life. In post-treatment, they became more confident with respect to their future, and the cure was the main expectation. Beliefs linking the cancer caused the adoption of habits deemed healthy. The variations found in the elements of the social representations about health point out the possibility of health being thought stemming from other social determinants than the absence of disease.

Keywords : Health; Social representations; Leukemia; Lymphoma; Cancer.

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