Social Representations of Aids and of the Antiretroviral Therapy for People Living with HIV

The aim of this study was to characterize the social representation of Aids and Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) for people living with HIV that have adherence to treatment, users of the public health services of Florianópolis, Santa Catarina. All the participants (N = 60) showed high sc...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Tatiana de Lucena Torres, Brígido Vizeu Camargo
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie 2008-01-01
Series:Psicologia
Subjects:
Online Access:http://editorarevistas.mackenzie.br/index.php/ptp/article/view/738/427
Description
Summary:The aim of this study was to characterize the social representation of Aids and Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) for people living with HIV that have adherence to treatment, users of the public health services of Florianópolis, Santa Catarina. All the participants (N = 60) showed high scores in the scale of self-efficacy for use HAART (z = 4.60; SD = 0.95), indicating adherence to treatment. For the data analyses, the participants were divided in sex and clinical condition (symptomatic and not symptomatic). There is not association between symptoms absence and treatment quit (p = 0.53; p > 0.05). Textual and lexical analyses of the interviews showed that participants used technical words and compared Aids with cancer as a way to hold the new knowledge at a preexistent one. Aids have changed from the “disease of the others”, common used among not infected people, to the “disease of the world”, for people living with HIV.
ISSN:1516-3687
1980-6906