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Children's social representation of cancer

This research was motivated by the need to know more about the care of children with cancer. The objective of the study was to discover what the social representation of the child with cancer are. Ten open interviews were conducted with children and teenagers from 9 to 15 years of age. The analysis issues that emerged from the children's discourse were about the disease, the treatment, the health care workers and family relationships. The present study presents the social representation of the disease, with the objective of better understanding the topic and directing nursing care towards a minimization of the trauma which this process brings upon the children.

Neoplasms; Child; Social perception


Universidade de São Paulo, Escola de Enfermagem Av. Dr. Enéas de Carvalho Aguiar, 419 , 05403-000 São Paulo - SP/ Brasil, Tel./Fax: (55 11) 3061-7553, - São Paulo - SP - Brazil
E-mail: reeusp@usp.br