Abstract
This study of qualitative approach, anchored in the theoretical assumptions of the Social Representation Theory, aimed to analyze the social representations of individuals with tuberculosis in relation to the disease and its treatment. We used the interview to the 12 people who were in TB treatment in primary care in an administrative region of Juiz de Fora city - MG. The reports were organized through thematic content analysis proposed by Bardin. The findings reveal three significant social representations that evoke the sense of experiencing tuberculosis, which are: The disease that presupposes the conviction of life, the disease imposes a limitation of life and illness that proposes a (re)start of life. then considered the exacerbation of the representation of tuberculosis as a disease difficult to treat, with physical and social limitations imposed by the disease and its treatment. However, the disease receives positive changes for people, assume that as a new beginning of life. These representations allow reflection on the sense of experiencing the sick from TB, allowing reflections that may contribute to development of effective strategies for the treatment of the disease, when considering the suffering and limiting experience of it.
Keywords:
tuberculosis; primary health care; treatment; qualitative research.