<b>Health representations of women with type 2 diabetes</b> - DOI: 10.4025/cienccuidsaude.v7i3.6483

Abstract

Health/illness representations held by lay people are frequently different from conceptions held by health professionals and it is essential to know these conceptions for more effective interventions. This study aimed to know health representations socially constructed by women with type 2 diabetes. This is a descriptive and exploratory study whose participants were selected from a Basic Health Unit in Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil, composing a convenience sample. Data were collected in January 2003 and analyzed through thematic content analysis. Results evidenced the predominance of health representations closely associated to the capacity to work. For the low strata of society, being sick means losing the only resource they have to survive, their own body. Health guarantees work, which in turn, allows satisfying some basic needs, such as eating and housing. For some women interviewed, pain hinders work, thus, there is an association between pain and illness. The reports showed an absence of symptoms when glycemia is elevated and a difficulty in understanding signals emitted by their own body. Self care is, many times, provided only when there are symptoms impairing the execution of daily tasks. The absence of symptoms is frequently associated with health; consequently, many patients do not follow the recommended treatment if they are asymptomatic. Knowledge regarding the low strata representations on health/illness is necessary to acquire a better understanding of practices and attitudes adopted, in order to improve the effectiveness of interventions.