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Open support groups for persons living with HIV/AIDS: the construction of its homogeneity

There is a debate in the literature regarding the homogeneity in the composition of the groups for persons with HIV/AIDS, according to stages of the disease, infection forms, and the participants' sex. This study, based on a constructionist conception of the therapy and of the production of the knowledge, sought analyzing how the senses on the seropositivity and the support were negotiated in a session of a support group oriented to this population. We observed that the homogeneity and the support, before being a priori categories used to organize the group, are actively built in and through the group setting by its participants. Ethical and methodological implications of this analysis point to the recognition of the social-historical conditions for the construction of the senses of the seropositivity and of the hegemony of some of its descriptions.

group psychotherapy; group composition; AIDS; social constructionism


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