Ambiente pesqueiro e saúde: representações sociais sobre saúde e doença de pescadores e marisqueiras nos distritos de Diogo Lopes, Barreiras e Sertãozinho Macau RN

According to Brazil s Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture, artisanal fishermen are responsible for a significant fish production at national level, highlighting the importance of this activity. In Rio Grande do Norte State, Brazil, fishing has become an important part of economic and social processes. In this context, there are many inland fishing communities such as Barreiras, Diogo Lopes and Sertãozinho, which are part of Ponta do Tubarão State Reserve of Sustainable Development (RDSEPT), located in Macau and Guamaré, Rio Grande do Norte coastline cities. Fishermen and women, the last ones known as marisqueiras who work alongside the menfolk at sea, especially in the shellfish harvest, have been developing narrow relationships with nature, mainly with the sea, from where they extract their families subsistence. However, those communities have been facing several issues related to living conditions, health and diseases. Social representations have been analyzed in the speeches of fishermen/women who were registered active members in a fishermen association named Associação Colônia de Pescadores Z-41, regarding the period from 2008 to 2011. The analysis involved socio-economic profiles verification, identification and analysis of the group s main representative diseases and representations related to health and illness. This study searched for elements in order to provide the comprehension of the relationships among people s social representations and the fishing environment in which they live.. This qualiquantitative study was performed using recordings and transcriptions of structured and open-question interviews. The Collective Subject Speech tecnique proposed by Lefevre & Lefevre (2002) was applied to perform the interviews analysis using QualiQuantiSoft® software. The results showed that health and illness phenomena as well as social representations related to them in the fishing environment are not only abstract states but also physical ones, which interfere in all life extensions, establishing a set of relevant information that indicates that those people realize their own socio-cultural, economic, environmental and political context

Vivendo e aprendendo no ambiente hospitalar: Percepções de crianças sobre a doença

This study focuses on the child within the hospital environment. Its purpose is to describe children s perceptions of their illness and time in hospital and to identify their main hardships during treatment. This study has a qualitative nature and is theoretically and methodologically supported by the creative and sensitive method developed by Cabral (1998), studies by Piaget, Vygotsky and Wallon on child development, and studies conducted by Pinto (2005), Collet (2004), Chiattone (2003), Silva (2002), Lima et.al (1999) on in-patient children. For this study, 13 children between the ages of 7 and 12 at a public hospital institution specialized in child care in the city of Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, were interviewed. As a criterion for taking part in this study the children would have to have been in hospital for over three days and be fully capable of physically and emotionally interacting with the researcher at the time the interview took place. Analysis drew on the study of the empirical material made up of interviews and a field diary where notes had been entered for the children s reactions, expressions and gestures. Results show that there is some understanding, on the part of these children, of their illness, with their parents as the main informants. They accept being in hospital because they need treatment, but they realize that life becomes different especially on account of the constraints resulting from the illness and the hospital itself. The main hardships during treatment are: lack of recreational activities in the evenings and on the weekends within the hospital environment; absence of family members, especially brothers and sisters; and lack of explanation on the part of health professionals regarding some procedures as these are being carried out. Our conclusion is that children perceive illness and the hospital environment as something that changes the rhythm of their lives bringing on them perturbations, fears and anxieties. Hence, we suggest that professionals working with in-patient children should be especially prepared to deal with these children and their parents, aiming at bringing down fears and anguishes, clear their doubts and, in addition, advise the parents in respect of their children s treatment while in hospital and after hospital discharge. The hospital environment should also be cheerful and colorful and have a toy room under the coordination of persons especially prepared for that purpose

Percepção de estigma e qualidade de vida em crianças com neoplasia

The increase in survival time and cure requires more extensive care about the quality of life of cancer patients, which begins soon after diagnosis. Thus, it seems reasonable to the emphasis on development of studies covering the psychosocial variables, such as stigma, treatment of childhood cancer aiming thereby to the attention of the overall needs of the child. Thus, this research aims to investigate the perception of stigma and quality of life in children with cancer. This is a cross-sectional research and understanding of the descriptive type, the type specimen being adopted for convenience. This consisted of thirty children with cancer and thirty children without chronic disease. The instruments used were the Quality of Life Questionnaire, the Perceived Stigma Scale and Technical Drawing Story with a Theme. The results indicate that the chronic condition, no interfered significantly in satisfaction with the quality of life in children with cancer and identified that the quality of life is not related to the stigma. Comparison with children with no chronic disease with infants with cancer, no significant differences were observed. However, the group mean contrast was lower, suggesting a greater impairment in quality of life of children with cancer compared to those without chronic disease. It is worth noting that the psychosocial effects and the limitations imposed by disease and treatment are presented as important factors in the design mode of subjective manifestations of children with cancer. Therefore, it is expected that knowledge elucidated by this study will assist, greatly to the promotion of improved emotional, biological and social development itself and the involvement of children with cancer treatment