Social representations about cancer among relatives of patient undergoingoncological treatment

Abstract

Cancer is a disease surrounded by stigmas which emotionally affects their carriers as well as their families. The research aimed to apprehend the social representations of cancer among relatives of patients undergoing cancer treatment in a hospital in São Luís-Ma. This was a study of exploratory and descriptive qualitative approach, where for reasons of research, followed by the assumptions of the Social Representation Theory. The study subjects were 102 relatives of patients in outpatient cancer treatment and the sample of random and spontaneous type. Data were collected through the Summoning Technique Free of words and analyzed with the assistance of the software EVOC 2003. The analysis of the four houses picture showed a negative representation of cancer by family members, with the words, despair, pain, fear, death, suffering, treatment and sadness as the centerpiece of representations, and the word hope is the first periphery. The study on the social representations of cancer among family members of cancer patients proved to be of great importance, as presented in the present feeling among the families of those affected by the disease.