HIV serodiscordant sexual partners: social representations of health care professionals

OBJECTIVES: to understand the structure of the social representations of health professionals from HIV/AIDS Specialized Care Services about HIV-positive partners. METHODS: this is a qualitative study, based on the structural aspect of Social Representations, developed in specialized services of the metropolitan area of a state in the Northeast Region. Fifty-one professionals were interviewed using the technique of free association of words, processed by the software IRaMuTeQ, by means of prototypical and similarity analysis. RESULTS: the central nucleus was constituted by the terms “partnership”, “love” and “fear”, showing appreciation of meanings inherent to their beliefs, values and experiences that bring possibilities of reflections for health practices. FINAL CONSIDERATIONS: the findings reinforce the impacts generated in the different segments of the lives of people living with HIV and in their emotional bonds. This highlights the need for the implementation of care strategies contemplating the biopsychosocial care model rather than the biological model.