"Saúde é tudo": as representações sociais de saúde no tratamento do câncer "no sangue" e "nas ínguas"

Abstract

This work verified the social representations about health of individuals with leukemia and lymphoma, and social practices adopted upon treatment. Four men and four women undergoing chemotherapeutic treatment (ambulatory patients and hospital interns), or in post-treatment review, were individually interviewed. A semi-structured interview was utilized, with a script spanning the knowledge of the illness and of the cancer, evolution of the treatment, life changes, familial/social life, religious support, expectations, cure, health precautions, and social representations about health. The data were organized in individualized “structures”, elaborated from units of meaming extracted of the analysis of the interviews. The analysis of these structures was performed based on three moments: diagnosis, treatment, and post-treatment. We verified that the diagnosis of leukemia or lymphoma 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, but during the treatment health ceases to be only absence of illness to become also the return to normal life, as considered. The cure and the fear of relapse were the main expectations mentioned, and in post-treatment the participants became more confident with respect to their life planning. Beliefs linking the appearance of the disease to eating habits 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.