GENERAL HOSPITAL NURSES’ SOCIAL REPRESENTATIONS OF ALCOHOLIC PATIENTS

Abstract

This study, with a qualitative approach, aimed to analyze the social representations held by nurses in a general hospital, regarding the alcoholic patient. The data was collected in March 2008 from 20 nurses in three general hospitals in a city in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, through self-recorded records, and was submitted to Content Analysis guided by the theoretical-methodological framework of social representations. The results indicate that the nurses conceive the alcoholic patient as a sick person, therefore, alcoholism is shown as an illness without, however, considering other explanatory models for the use of alcohol – a representation which is linked more to folk knowledge than to technical-scientific knowledge. This points to the need for better preparation and training of the healthcare professionals in relation to the use of alcohol and alcoholism itself, as the shortage of knowledge may contribute to care which is fragmented and based on the moral considerations which permeate folk knowledge.

Keywords

• Nursing
• Hospital
• Alcoholism