A representação social do cuidado no programa saúde da família na cidade de Natal

RODRIGUES, Maisa Paulino; LIMA, Kenio Costa de; RONCALLI, Angelo Giuseppe. A representaçao social do cuidado no programa saúde da familia na cidade de Natal. Ciência & Saúde Coletiva, v. 13, n. 1, p. 71-82, 2008.Disponivel em: . Acesso em: 04 out. 2010.

A representação social do papel de gestores em organizações não governamentais

The discussions concerning the absence of a management model appropriate to the peculiarities of third sector organizations have not been impeditive to their emphasized expansion in the last decades. In the attempt of understanding this phenomenon from the perspective of those who manage social organizations, this work based on the theory of social representations to understand the notion that organization managers of the third sector - based in Fortaleza CE - have of the part that they play and how this notion influences the direction of their activities. Social representations of managers of four different categories of non-governmental organizations have been investigated, each category composed of two unities. The categories researched were: social integration through art and education, prevention and treatment of alcohol and drug abuse, children s health assistance and community action. By using Doise s Societal Approach, the role of social managers translated in intraindividual, interindividual and situational processes of their actions, has been analysed within the social representations, focusing on beliefs, values, symbols and stories that give meaning to the existence of non-governmental organizations. Analysis and discussion of data displayed the existence of diversity in the understanding of managers within their practice, in other words, the management profile is also its own manager s. The branch where an organization acts is also preponderant in the shaping of a management style. It could be deduced, from to the organizations researched, that professional formation and the manager s social insertion mainly, are determinative factors in the outlining of a management model of its own. It was concluded that, due to heterogeneity of interests and action segments, there is no systematic process for social management among organizations. Management styles are supported by their director s own perception of achievement, who model organizations according to their contingencies

A representação social do cuidado no Programa Saúde da Família na cidade do Natal

The aim of this study was to learn about the social representations of the care provided by the Family Health Program (FHP) in the city of Natal, Brazil and determine how these representations guide the daily actions of doctors, dentists, nurses, nurse s assistants and oral health assistants during the work process. In this sense, we used the theoreticalmethodological approach to the Theory of Social Representations. For data collection, we used the following instruments: a two-part questionnaire, where the first part recorded sociodemographic data and the second part was adapted to the free word association technique (FWAT), which was applied to 90 professionals belonging to 18 FHP units. Interviews were also used as collection instruments. These were based on inductive stimuli and on direct observations of 30 of these professionals. After a superficial reading of the material, we constructed a corpus from which ten categories emerged. To analyze FWAT we used lexicographic analysis, combining frequency and the mean order of responses. The interviews and sociodemographic variables were analyzed using content analysis and descriptive statistical analysis, respectively. The study showed that the central nucleus of the social representation in question is composed of the elements attention, receptivity and love, revealing that the subjects have different understandings of the FHP care process and that the knowledge accumulated in this respect is supported by an approximate vision of the meaning of care. However, traditional elements with trivializing connotations about care predominate, which compromises the development of strategies to overcome traditional practices. In the set of analyses, we were able to capture the invariance of a contradiction: on one hand, professionals know and affirm the importance of providing care for FHP patients; on the other, the experience of daily practice translates into the negation of this concept. In this contradictory context, professionals build gradual and successive syntheses that allow them to act and affirm themselves by associating information from their academic formation, structured knowledge acquired in other experiences, values and symbols of their daily routine. Thus, they shape and reshape themselves, according to what is concretely and specifically required, at the same time both plural and multiple. The composition of the central nucleus indicates that any measure that intends to modify attitudes that is, the daily actions of FHP professionals with respect to care must take into account and give priority to the debate about the redefining of the semantic fields of the central nucleus (love/attention/receptivity and humanization), especially those of love and attention

Abordagem psicossociologica das implicações legais da infecção hospitalar e de seu controle

Pesquisas acerca das Infecções Hospitalares mostram a gravidade do problema na saúde e a existência de poucos profissionais das áreas do Direito e da Saúde especializados nas implicações jurídicas relacionadas com o controle das Infecções Hospitalares. Assim, este estudo multidisciplinar tem como objetivos: apreender as Representações Sociais das Implicações Jurídicas das Infecções Hospitalares e de seu Controle, elaboradas pelos profissionais do direito e da saúde e analisar o impacto destas representações sobre Infecções Hospitalares e seu controle no âmbito do Hospital Getúlio Vargas, em Teresina, no Estado do Piauí. Trata-se de um estudo de caráter exploratório, desenvolvido em hospital público com profissionais do Direito e da Saúde, subsidiado na Teoria das Representações Sociais, de Serge Moscovici. Os dados foram coletados através de entrevista em profundidade e da observação. As informações apreendidas foram processadas no software Alceste 4.8, possibilitando a análise lexical e estatística pela Classificação Hierárquica Descendente, que permitiu identificar no discurso classes representativas de palavras de interesse da investigação. Os resultados indicaram que os sujeitos do estudo, através das suas representações sociais, defendem os direitos dos usuários da saúde e conhecem a prática das políticas de saúde, prevenção das Infecções Hospitalares e de seu Controle. Porém, demonstraram pouca preocupação com as implicações jurídicas inerentes às sua práticas mesmo estando sujeitos a responder civil e penalmente pelas ocorrências geradas por iatrogenia no exercício da profissão

Significados e percepções de puérperas sobre as síndromes hipertensivas da gravidez e parto prematuro

Hypertensive syndromes in pregnancy (HSP) are configured as one of the major complications in the pregnancy and postpartum period and can lead premature newborn and subsequent hospitalization of the newborn to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). This study aimed to analyze the perceptions, meanings and feelings of mothers on the hypertensive syndromes in pregnancy and premature obstetric labor. The research was qualitative and has a theoretical methodological the Social Representations Theory(SRT) in the approach to the Central Nucleus Theory. The study included 70 women, mean age 29 years, predominantly school to high school, most of them married or in consensual union, primiparous and prevalence of cesarean delivery occurred between 32 and 37 weeks of pregnancy.The data were collected from may to december 2008 in the Maternity School Januário Cicco in Natal , and obtained through the following instruments for data collection: questionnaire including questions about socio-demographic status; the Free Words Association Test (FWAT) and and verbalized mental image construction used three stimuli: such as pregnancy with high blood pressure, preterm birth and NICU, and interview with the following guiding question: what it meant for you to have a pregnancy with high blood pressure and consequently the birth of a premature baby? Data analysis was performed using multi-method obtained from the data processing by EVOC (Ensemble Programmes Permettant L 'Analyze des Évocations) and ALCESTE (Analyse Lexicale par Contexte d'un Ensemble de Segment de Texte) and thematic analysis in categories. The results will be presented in four thematic units under the following representative universes: HSP, prematurity as a result of HSP, NICU and the social representations of mothers on the hypertensive disorder of pregnancy sequenced premature birth and hospitalization of the child in the NICU. The results obtained by multimethod analyses showed similar constructions and point to death as the central nucleus and negative aspects, coping strategies, need of care, knowledge about the disease, fragility and meanings of the NICU as peripheral elements. It is considered that the perceptions, meanings and feelings of puerperal women in relation to HSPs and to premature delivery are a negative social representation, with representational elements that may have influenced the adverse effects on the disease and its consequences. We suggest action on the peripheral elements of this representation, with adequate orientation, early diagnosis, effective conduct, receptive attitude on the part of the team, health promotion measures and effective public policies, in order to improve the care provided to puerperal women, making them feel welcome and minimizing their suffering

Significados e percepções do homem diante da gravidez de sua companheira com síndromes hipertensivas

The general aim of the research was to comprehend the Social Representations constructed by the man in the face of his companion s risk pregnancy caused by hypertensive syndromes. The study is of exploratory and descriptive character in a qualitative approach developed at two public maternity hospitals, both located in Natal-RN, with 65 men whose wives had undergone high-risk pregnancy. The project was submitted to the Ethics on Research Committee of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil (CEP-UFRN), with favorable report no. 81/07. For data collection, the following multimethods were employed: a word free association test; a projective test for registering mental images; and a semistructured interview schedule. The speech contents were analyzed in accordance with the Theory of Social Representations and complemented by the Central Nucleus Theory. The discussion of the results was grounded on literary findings of the companion s participation in pregnancy as well as in risk pregnancy associated with hypertensive syndromes. The data showed fear as representation s central nucleus, while recollections of that feeling referred to death of both companion and child in addition to fear of the unknown. The categories preoccupation and carefulness, other feelings, and clinical picture of the disease represented components of the peripheral nucleus. The results concerning mental images followed the same category criteria of the word free association test fear, other feelings, preoccupation, carefulness, and clinical picture of the disease. After being processed in accordance with the principles of content analysis, the statements originated three thematic unities: fear and insecurity in the presence of the companion s risk pregnancy; attitudes of carefulness to the risk pregnancy of the partner; and humanized assistance during the companion s risk pregnancy. Considering the results, the conclusion is that the partner s risk pregnancy caused by hypertensive syndromes represents, for the man, feelings of fear, preoccupation, insecurity, lack of acceptance and information, as well as attitudes of carefulness. The results reveal necessity of reorganizing the obstetric assistance with an eye to including the man as participant in the reproductive process. That demands extension of humanized carefulness to the companion with a view to make him an active coadjutor in the assistance of high-risk pregnant

Risco ocupacional no contexto hospitalar

O presente estudo tem como objetivo conhecer as representações sociais sobre o risco ocupacional construídas por trabalhadores da saúde no contexto hospitalar. Trata-se de um estudo exploratório fundamentado no referencial teórico da Teoria das Representações Sociais realizado com duzentos e vinte trabalhadores da saúde pertencentes ao quadro permanente de um hospital público na cidade do Natal- RN. Os dados foram coletados através da Entrevista semi-estruturada e da Técnica da Associação Livre de Palavras. Na análise das informações utilizou-se o software Evoc 2000 e o Alceste. Os resultados indicam condições de trabalho desfavoráveis com desgaste físico e mental ao trabalhador da saúde, e, patologias pouco reconhecidas como ocupacionais em sua origem. Pode-se observar que as representações sociais construídas pelos trabalhadores da saúde, revelam o nível de conscientização desses trabalhadores referentes às consequências do ambiente de trabalho para sua saúde, referindo-se ao processo de trabalho hospitalar, como múltiplo e complexo pela dimensão tecnológica e pelos aspectos físicos, psíquicos e cognitivos

Risco de contagio pela HIV e as medidas de biossegurança: Significados atribuídos no kcontexto da formação do profisional de saúde

Estudo com abordagem qualititativa, teve como objetivo geral, analisar as representações sociais sobre o risco de contágio do HIV construídas por estudantes universitários portugueses da área de saúde, apontando-se aspectos psicossociais à adoção das medidas de biossegurança. A coleta de dados foi realizada no período de fevereiro a junho de 2007, com a participação total de 486 estudantes da área de saúde de instituições de ensino superior, em Lisboa (Portugal), distribuídos em 248 de Medicina, 168 de Enfermagem e 70 de Medicina Dentária. Os estudantes concordaram em participar da primeira etapa da coleta de dados, constituída por um Teste de Associação Livre de Palavras com seis temas indutores de respostas e um questionário. Na segunda etapa, caracterizada por uma entrevista semi-estruturada , participaram 60 estudantes, sendo 20 de Medicina, 24 de Enfermagem e 16 de Medicina Dentária. Os dados coletados foram processados pelos sofwares SPAD-T e ALCESTE e discutidos com suporte teórico da Teoria das Representações Sociais. Os resultados revelam representações sociais atribuídas ao HIV e aids através das palavras: vírus, incurável, medo, toxicodependencia, discriminação, sofrimento e morte. Ao pensar no cuidado para o paciente, os estudantes assinala para um fazer com dificuldade e inexperiência, que gera nervosismo e medo. Em relação ao risco de contágio do HIV, os participantes associam a proteção, medo e sangue, atribuíndo sentidos as medidas de biossegurança pela proteção com luvas e preservativo, influenciado principalmente por ser uma doença incurável e que causa sofrimento e discriminação. As conclusões revelam que as representações sociais atribuídas a aids e ao risco de contágio do HIV fortalece a proteção e o cuidado para uso de medidas de biossegurança. A compreensão desses significados no processo ensino-aprendizagem devem ser assumidos como instrumento norteador para a formação do profissional da saúde pelas instituições responsáveis

Estudo psicossocial das perdas dentárias na terceira idade

The present study seeks to understand tooth loss by investigating the social representations in the daily life of elderly individuals, thus characterizing itself as a comparative and analytic research. It is known that tooth loss is a common occurrence in elderly individuals, interfering at the psychosocial and biological levels, through its functional, esthetical and social implications. The area of oral health in Brazil is lacking studies on this topic, especially with respect to the psychosocial aspects of the elderly. The Theory of Social Representations and the Central Nucleus Theory were selected for theoretical-methodological support. The Free Association of Words Test was used, whose inducing stimulus were the words tooth loss , in which each subject was asked to associate 3 words, to respond to a questionnaire related to socio-economic conditions and containing an investigation of tooth loss, access to odontological services and the need for dental treatment, and to undergo a focus group interview. The study sample consisted of 120 individuals 60 years of age or over, resident in Natal, RN, Brazil and participants of the Live Together to Live Better group of the Basic Health Unit of Felipe Camarão Residential District and Unati (Open University of the Elderly); an interview was performed with 36 subjects. Data analysis was performed by Evoc 2000, SPSS/99, Graph Pad and Alceste softwares. The results demonstrate that the central nucleus of the social representations of tooth loss for the Live Together group emerged from the difficulty in eating categories, showing a relation between physiologic necessity, desire and pleasure from eating, not to mention the pain that resulted from justifying the tooth loss. Besides the central discourses, the following peripheral elements were gathered: difficulty in adapting to the prosthesis, treatment and difficulty in speaking. All of these categories, except the last, also comprised the class themes of the group interview. For the Unati group the central nucleus emerged from the socio-economic difficulties categories, demonstrating a narrow relation between poverty, access to health and education and esthetics, confirming in the discourse of common sense, the association between tooth loss and aging. At the margin of the central discourses was collected the peripheral element difficulty in adapting to the prosthesis, found both in the Live Together and Unati groups, which expresses the resistance of the subject to this new situation and the failure of the rehabilitation treatment in the sense of reviving the memory of their natural teeth. All of these categories also constitute the class themes of the of the group interview. Thus, through the study of the social representations, we can reveal a reality in the perspective of the social subjects, contemplating the multiple facets of the social-cultural reality experienced by these individuals

Habitus docente e representação social do ensinar Geografia na Educação Básica de Teresina - Piauí

The literature about the Geography teaching has shown that most male and female teachers of this subject go on guiding their teaching practice based on the traditional Geography fundamentals, whose main characteristic consist in the description of places. The incorporation of scientific standards that change the old principles and concepts have not been happening, unless in a punctual way. The overcoming of the traditional Geography, related to the aspects accepted by the scientific field have not happened in Brazil yet, not only because of certain obvious obstacles, as the literature has been pointed out but also by symbolic obstacles, which block the incorporation of the new, of the non habitual action. One of those obstacles that motivated the accomplishment of this study was the social representations that are theoretically studied here under the perspective developed by Serge Moscovici. Then, the focus of this doctorate study is concentrated in the apprehension of the content and structure of the social representation of teaching of Geography and its relation with the habitus that gives form and social visibility to the ones who are teachers of that subject in Teresina. The consecution of this work was especially based on the Pierre Bourdieu´s praxiology, mainly on the concepts of social field, habitus and capital, as well as the theory of social representations, specifically on the approach of central nucleus developed by Jean-Claude Abric and Jean-Claude Flament. The initial hypothesis pointed out the existence of a Geographer´s primary habitus built through the development process of the geographic science field in Brazil, as a basis of production of a social representation of teaching geography . That representation, however, would act as a symbolic obstacle to the incorporation of the new scientific contents and pedagogical practice, which require from the teacher investigative and questionable attitude in the presence of the reality and contents approached in the classroom. That initial hypothesis laid on the theoretical purpose that it has been developed by Domingos Sobrinho (1997), which states that there is a narrow relationship between the habitus and social representation. The study was developed with male and female teachers of Geography from public schools of Teresina. The methodology involved the use of a questionnaire, the free-word association technique and deep interviews. The achieved results showed the presence of a complex process of representational construction and its articulation with a habitus produced by the synthesis of several situational and cultural referents, from among of them we can point out an insertion in a social field of practice exclusively related to the teaching and the reproduction of a professoral teaching (SILVA, 2003), built through the school development process, which those male and female teachers were exposed. The initial hypothesis that considered the local reproduction of a primary habitus of the Geography was denied, therefore, it was verified that there is not in Teresina the production/reproduction of the structures, rules and practice of the national scientific field, in which this subject is inserted. Hence, the incorporation of the new patterns of the geographic scientific knowledge is difficult because of the inexistence of a scientific habitus, that is, mental schema systems that would let the teachers mentioned above connect themselves appropriately to the science and its practices. So, it has gotten a social representation of teaching geography based on contents strictly related to the reproduction of structures, mental schema from the educational field which attach themselves to the hegemonic pedagogical practices in the national scope

Olhares sobre a formação do professor de matemática. Imagem da profissão e escrita de si

The main focus of this thesis is the formation of a mathematical teacher at a college institution. The general aim is to describe and to analyze the formation process of a mathematical teacher which is an undergraduate student in Mathematics at the Instituto de Educação Superior Presidente Kennedy IFESP, in Natal-RN. It is based on a qualitative ethnographic approach, and has its theoretical anchorage in the (auto)biographical narratives, the social representative theories, and the mathematical education. The number of participants in this investigation was 12 undergraduate students, which corresponds to 25% of the total number of students. The corpus utilized in our analysis included 48 (auto)biographical essays, 12 (auto)biographies (formation's memories), and 12 contextualization files, besides the research's diary. The sources were obtained from the whole program of studies, i.e. from November 2003 to December 2006. The analysis revealed that the reminiscences of the 12 students' academic trajectory influenced their professional formation, since their images of a mathematical teacher were intrinsically related to the one they had before. These representations were being either demolished or constructed in a network along the assertive image of their profession, changing afterwards the mathematical representation and the teaching way of this discipline. Our study also shows that the beginning of their teacher career was marked by mechanical practices influenced by their old teachers. The (trans)formation of themselves and their teaching practices happened in a smooth way as soon as they increased their knowledgements in Mathematics, and it reflected upon the way they learned mathematics. The writing of their (auto)biographies helped the set up of new knowledgements, leaving to a self-consciousness as well as a self-formation, and contributed for the construction of a new way to see and to live the profession. Therefore, a mathematical teacher, for the undergraduate students of the IFESP involved in this work, is made at the interface of the familiar, academic, and professional context, besides the reflexive writings about the formation path, the way of life and the relationships among them

A produção tardia da profissionalização docente e seu impacto na redefinição identitária do professorado do ensino fundamental

El objetivo de este estudio consistió en capturar y reconstituir el modo por el cual profesoras y profesores vinculados a la educación infantil y a la fase inicial de la enseñanza fundamental producen su identidad docente, en el contexto de una tardía profesionalización. El campo de esa pesquisa envolvió tres instituciones públicas de enseñanza superior, dos en Natal (RN) y una en João Pessoa (PB), que desenvulven programas especiales de formación de docentes vinculados a las respectivas redes locales de enseñanza. Para el atendimiento del objetivo arriba propuesto, fue utilizada la teoría de las representaciones sociales para la captura de los elementos constitutivos de las representaciones sociales del profesorado conforme la formulación de Serge Moscovici y colaboradores, considerándose, aqui, especialmente, la contribución de Abric en su complementar teoría de nucleo central de las representaciones. Teniendo en vista la necesidad de identificación de los elementos estructuradores de las representaciones, y definidores de las identidades en cuestión, se privilegió en la pesquisa la producción discursiva docente y sus condiciones de producción. La utilización de sus evocaciones, bien como de las fuentes escritas por los propios sujetos envolvidos, oportunizó el afloramiento de las diferentes faces constitutivas del ser profesor/a . El corpus decorriente de ese estudio fue entonces somentido a una serie de diferentes métodos / técnicas condensadas en programas informatizados y otros manuales en um esfuerzo para conferir un mayor rigor al análisis de los resultados apuntados. Se utilizó, aún, un referencial de análisis del discurso para viabilizar la emergencia de diferentes ângulos de la configuracion de la identidad en foco. Los resultados apuntam para un significativo deslocamiento de las representaciones docentes, bien como permitem afirmar la hipótesis, inicialmente puesta, de que la profesionalización docente ocurre no apenas de manera tardía, como también viene provocando una resignificación de los referentes de identidad de esos profesionales

Representação social do ensinar: a dimensão pedagógica do habitus professoral

Teaching is an activity inherent to the human condition. Historically, from the institutionalization of education, the key role to pursue that activity has been attributed to the teacher, who is required to adapt to the demands of each historical conjuncture. Currently, according to the new paradigmatic requirements, the teacher must possess various skills in order to handle the complex and challenging act of teaching. Assuming the existence of a gap between what the State and the scientific discourse recommend the teacher act upon in the classroom, a decision was made to identify the configuration and structure of social representation in the act of teaching, put forth by elementary school teachers in the public schools of Natal, RN, Brazil. Therefore, the research relied on the theoretical model developed by Domingos Sobrinho (1998, 2000, 2003), which articulates the praxeology of Pierre Bourdieu with the theory of social representations of Serge Moscovici (1978). It was intended to demonstrate how teachers habitus, in its due historical context, directs the construction of social representations in the act of teaching which guides the actions of the teacher, particularly in the classroom context. At the methodological level, the following methods and techniques were used: bibliographic and documentary review in order to identify the scientific discourse on the subject matter and the official parameters of educational regulation and the act of teaching; the Procedure of Multiple Classifications PMC in order to capture the configuration and structure of the representational content in focus, the direct observation of the classroom to identify in actual terms the social representation as "guide to action" as the theory preaches. From the standpoint of the analysis, quantitative data were analysed through Multidimensional Scaling MDS, covering in this study the Multidimensional Scale Analysis MSA and Smallest Space Analysis SSA; and non-parametric statiscal techniques. Additional data of qualitative value had to undergo categorical content analysis. It was then concluded that the teachers investigated guided themselves by social representation, the product of collectively constructed and shared assumptions about the act of teaching, forming a synthesis of different sources of information and knowledge acquirement, involving elements of common sense, religious habitus, pedagogic models considered outdated, the agencies responsible for teacher training and the hegemonic discourse about education today

Tramas do impedimento: os sentidos da desistência entre Alfabetizandos da EJA

For young people and adults that have not yet conquered reading and writing, being literate is the most important thing in life , a dream . Scholarly learning for them is like hegemonic knowledge in contemporary literate society. Thus, for them to get into school is to be able to have such knowledge and, through it, feel inserted into this society. However, along this process of learning, they start to drop out, little by little, statistically increasing the number of people who give up on young people and adult education Eja, as well as slowly reducing the contingent of illiteracy in the country. With this reality as a starting point, we question the concrete and symbolic reasons or motives that lead to a dropping out of the literacy classes at Eja. To do so, we have established, as the object of our study, the feelings of giving up among those involved in young people and adult literacy training. To understand such feelings is our purpose in this investigation. The theory of Social Representations (MOSCOVICI, 1978, 2004) was the theoretical-methodological option for subsidizing data search, analyses and interpretation, making us perceive the significance of the object of this study for these individuals. The gathering of such symbolic content involved the use of semi-structured interviews with eleven drop-outs and ten students who had repeated this modality of teaching in public schools in Natal, RN, during the 2006 school year. From the thematic and categorical analyses (BARDIN, 1977), we identified elements that gave support to some themes. Later, these themes led to three categories, suggesting that feelings associated with dropping out were based on the following: learning difficulties because they did not understand the contents; having their lack of knowledge exposed, thus bringing forth feelings of shame, humiliation, and embarrassment for not knowing how to read and write at a mature age; work, tiredness and sickness. The students who manage to remain in school are those who force themselves to live with the feelings of maladaptation and those who develop a sense of adaptation the other way round to the institution, that is, acceptance of institutional failures and omissions

Praxiologia, representação social de menopausa e práticas educativas de enfermeiras na estratégia saúde da família

This research, whose theme is related to climacteric, aims to know the social representation of menopause developed by the nurses working for Estratégia Saúde da Família (Family Health Strategy) in João Pessoa PB, as well as identifying its structure and verifying the way it interferes with the assistance and educational practices to the climacterial user. In the theoretical level, it is based on a model that articulates the social representations theory, the central nucleus complementary theory and the central concepts of Pierre Bourdieu s praxiology: habitus, cultural capital, social field and symbolic power. A hundred and forty-seven female nurses who work for Estratégia Saúde da Família (Family Health Strategy) in João Pessoa (PB) took part in this research, and the data collection period was from February 2008 to March 2009. As to the methods and techniques, we used the method to determine the central nucleus based on the free association of words, a questionnaire to identify certain regularities that constitute the nurses habitus, and the semi-structured interview to explore opinions and attitudes when facing assistance situations and educational practices and to collect other relevant information. The data analysis was developed, when referring to the free associations, with the help of the EVOC software, which is a group of articulated programs which carry out the statistical analysis of the evocations and the identification of the possible elements of both the central nucleus and the peripheral system of the social representation. As to the questionnaire, we used the descriptive statistical analysis and the analysis of correlation between the variables. The interviews were submitted to a categorical analysis of the content. The EVOC result indicated that the cognition hormone was the only element of the central nucleus of the social representation of menopause. Due to its symbolic value and structuring power, this central nucleus ensures the strict and, at the same time, flexible character of the representational content. The analysis of the social advancement, of some fundamental features of the group habitus, as well as the analysis of its insertion in the health field and of the attitudinal opinions and dispositions concerning the assistance given to the climacterial user, and the analysis of the pedagogical dimension of this assistance, all these analyses lead to the conclusion that the nurses who took part in this research share a social representation of the menopause resulting from the association of different technical and scientific knowledge. These derive from the biomedical pattern as well as from hegemonic values which disqualify old age and overvalue youth, from pedagogical conceptions arising from patterns that are presently regarded as authoritative and old-fashioned and from cultural references (responsible for the semantic variations concerning the central nucleus) which are specific to the subgroups the nurses belong to. This research enables the creation of opportunities for discussion between active nurses working for Estratégia Saúde da Família, and the nurses who are teachers at institutions of higher education, aiming at linking theory to practice, so that they can find ways of thinking about the climacteric and working, in a more comprehensive way, with users who are experiencing this stage of life