Leprosy effects on patients' daily lives: vulnerability and solidarity

vulnerabilidade e solidariedade

Abstract

With the purpose of supporting the nursing care provided to leprosy patients at a teaching health care unit, this study aimed at analysing the effects of leprosy on the patients’ daily lives. The Discourse of Collective Subjects was the methodological framework used. Discourses were analysed using bioethical theories. Seventeen leprosy patients cared for at the unit were recruited for the study. The effects of the disease, as reported by the respondents, indicated the patients’ high vulnerability that coexists with a weak solidarity. The study fulfilled its purpose of providing nursing care with a theoretical support that will enable the identification of aspects that make leprosy patients vulnerable. It will allow as well the patients empowerment through nursing interventions for facing and overcoming fragility.