Câncer que toma o corpo feminino: representações sociais

Abstract

Introduction: From the moment a woman is faced with the diagnosis of female cancer, her way of life and interpersonal relationships become objects of reflection and questioning. Understanding the meaning attributed to this experience is essential to promote and optimize coping strategies in order to increase the quality of life of women in their biopsychosocial integrality. Objective: Understand the representational contents of women experiencing female cancer. Methodology: Descriptive, exploratory study with a qualitative approach, carried out with 20 women who were at an oncology reference center, located in the city of Maceio/Alagoas. Approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Federal University of Alagoas, CAAE: 23846919.5.0000.5013. Information was collected from January to March 2021, through audio-recorded semi- structured interviews. The information collected was transcribed in full and analyzed according to the technique of content analysis from Bardin's perspective, categorized into thematic units. Results: The representational contents of female cancer are related to internal suffering and strongly anchored in representations of death, fear and despair. The statements showed that depression ends up joining these representations, reflecting too much on decision-making regarding adherence and continuity of treatment. The study also revealed that the support of the society in which the woman is inserted and the way she receives the diagnosis has a decisive influence on the representations she builds about the disease and on the way she views treatment. Conclusion: In the social representations that each woman presents, there is a world of meanings and senses covered by common sense, added to the knowledge and scientific knowledge, which require a detailed and attentive look as they permeate the female cancer, enabling the nursing professional to provide individualized care that understands all biopsychosocial processes experienced by women who face cancer.