Body representations of people with HIV/AIDS: between visibility and secrecy

• Autor(a) principal: Ivo, Ana Mônica Serakides
• Data de Publicação: 2014
• Outros Autores: Freitas, Maria Imaculada de Fátima
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por; eng
• Título da fonte: Reme (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.ufmg.br/index.php/reme/article/view/50129
• topic: Imagem Corporal; Síndrome de Imunodeficiência Adquirida; Preconceito; Assistência à Saúde; Cuidados de Enfermagem; Imagen Corporal; Síndrome de Inmunodeficiencia Adquirida; Prejuicio; Prestación de Atención de Salud; Atención de Enfermería; Body Image; Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome; Prejudice; Delivery of Health Care; Nursing Care

Major advances have been made in public policies for the treatment of AIDS; however, from the point of view of PLWHA, there were few changes in relation to the stigma attached to the disease. Physical changes due to the use of multi antiretroviral drugs (ARV) make the disease visible and, in consequence, change people's social relations and the experience of corporeity. The present study aims at understanding how those body changes are perceived and experienced by PLWHA. Data was collected through in-depth open-ended interviews that were afterwards transcribed and analyzed using the structural analysis of narratives. The representations identified were divided in two categories: 1) body being treated and visibility of the disease; 2) secrecy and prejudice in the experience of corporeity. Both are supported by representations concerning Visibility and Secrecy, which constituted the theoretical categories of this study. Secrecy is central to the interviewee's experience of corporeity. Health education in secondary prevention through the promotion of actions based on building a positive body image can improve PLWHA quality of life, as well as their social and affective interactions.