HANSENÍASE E REPRESENTAÇÕES SOCIAIS RELACIONADAS AO CUIDADO DE SI: EVIDÊNCIAS CIENTÍFICAS DE DISSERTAÇÕES E TESES DO CEPEN

Introduction: Leprosy is an infectious disease, which has Mycobacterium leprae as the main causative agent. It is an old disease with a history marked by the compulsory isolation suffered by patients and was only extinguished after the beginning of polychemotherapy. In this conception, this problem is related to a social representation of the term “leprosy”, which has sustained and caused damage to old practices of isolating patients. Objectives: Conduct a survey of research on the social representations of leprosy and self-care or self-care of people who have experienced leprosy in the CEPEN database and describe how the search and analysis process took place. Methodology: This is a study of bibliographic, descriptive, State of the Art type. The reference source for conducting the data survey was developed from studies available in the CEPEN database during a period of 12 years, 2002 to 2013. Results and discussion: It can be verify that research involving the object of study are (9 dissertations) and (3 theses). With regard to publications, it was found that most were developed in the Southeast and with more publications between 2011 and 2013. Regarding the methodological approach, most were qualitative. In this research studies were raised that address the social history of Hansen's disease, its representations, marks and transformations in society to reduce stigma nowadays. Conclusion: Social representations guide behaviors against leprosy, which are significant in protecting stigmatizing behaviors (from others), can contribute to the resignification of their bodies, mobilize affections that boost them to care for themselves, aiming to stop the disease and return to the previous body, protecting itself from prejudice.