Representação social do HIV para jovens que vivem com a doença: uma perspectiva temporal

Abstract

The object of this study concerns the social representations of the virus of Human Immunodeficiency/Aids (HIV/aids) among youngsters who live with that condition. The general objective consists of analyzing the contents of social representations of the HIV/aids among youngsters living with the virus from a time perspective. The specific objectives consist of both describing the social representations of HIV/aids among youngsters who live with HIV and of discussing the contents of social representations of HIV/aids at different moments along the experiencing of the condition — in the past, in the present, and in the future along a youngsters living with HIV. The theoretical framework used comprised the association between the Theory of Social Representations and the concept of temporality. The study was developed with 24 participants followed at five expert centers care, in the municipalities of Rio de Janeiro, Rio das Ostras and Macaé, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Analyses to characterize the group were conducted based on the Excel software; the interviews went through lexical analysis conducted based on the IRAMUTEQ software. The group concerned was predominantly male (66.7%), aged from 21 to 24 years (54.1%), finished high school (37.5%), jobless (50%), without a mate (54.2%), evangelical (33.3%), and aware of their diagnosis for up to one year. (45.8%). The resulting classes were named as follows: Class 1 — Quality of living in the context of youngsters living with HIV; Class 4 — Aids in the context of social and family relations of youngsters living with HIV/aids in the past, the present, and the future; Class 5 — Impact of HIV and aids in the daily life of youngsters living with HIV in the past, the present, and the future; Class 2 — Care service to youngsters living with HIV and aids in the DST/aids Program in the present and in the future; Class 3 — The ARVS in the daily life of the youngsters living with HIV now. Results show that aids is constituted as an object of representation which comprehends two main structuring axes: the first one concerns the youngsters' quality of living experiencing HIV and aids, at the same time as it locates the virus and the disease in the context of social and family relations, now and in the future, and in the daily life of the group, in the context comprehending the past, the present, and the future. The second axis unveils the construction of a representation sustained by institutional support and by the care actions associated to antiretrovirals, especially at the present moment. Conclusions show that HIV/aids is constituted as a complex object of representation, on a time mode on which the group of youngsters can locate itself along its discursive weaving, having an impact on the care practices and self-care practices.