Social representations of crack users for families and health professionals

• Autor(a) principal: Silva, Naiara França da
• Data de Publicação: 2017
• Outros Autores: Faro, André
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: https://doi.org/10.14195/1647-8606_59-1_2
• topic: representações sociais; evocações livres; crack (droga); social representations; free evocations; crack (drug)

This study aimed to analyse the social representations attributed to crack users in the perspective of their family members and health professionals. The study was conducted in four Psychosocial Care Centres (CAPS), where twenty relatives of users and thirty health professionals were interviewed. For the data collection, free associations based on the evocation technique were used, which were organized and processed with the EVOC software. Among the family members, the evocations related to the changes in the family environment resulting from crack use were more significant. Among the professionals, the highlights were the conceptions focused on the need for aid and avoidance behaviours in dealing with these individuals. These results indicate significant challenges concerning this theme, such as the difficulties of health professionals who work with the crack addiction and the need to include the family in the care given to drug addicts.