Percepção corporal de mulheres com hanseníase

Abstract

Initial Considerations: The World Health Organization, aligned with the Ministry of Health, treats leprosy as an infection caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium leprae, which, despite being curable, remains endemic in some regions, mainly tropical. The context of postmodern media brings great weight to the standard of women's images, in which women are expected to follow a pre-established standard, which when achieved makes them feel accepted, included, but not always respected. Objectives: Analyze the perception of women with Leprosy in relation to their body; describe the perception of women with leprosy in relation to their body; identify weaknesses in the body perception of leprosy patients; understand how the external environment influences this perception. Methods: This is research with a qualitative, descriptive and exploratory approach. To produce the data, a semi-structured interview guide was applied to women with leprosy being monitored at a reference center. The collection period took place in August 2023. The analysis was carried out using the Content Analysis technique, where the text was constituted as the individual's form of expression. This analysis was guided in light of Moscovici's Theory of Social Representations. As exclusion criteria, the following were obtained: patients with less than 2 months of follow-up. The established inclusion criteria are: being 18 years old or over; be monitored at the reference center, whether treating the disease or monitoring its sequelae. The present study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the State University of Piauí, opinion no. 6,217,045. Results and

Discussion: 10 women participated in the study, who were monitored at the co- participating institution, all of them are currently housewives, without a fixed income, 3

of them have informal jobs such as selling homemade food and cleaning. All clinical presentations of the disease were covered, the most prevalent being dimorphic, followed by tuberculoid, indeterminate and Wirchowian respectively. It was possible to see from the analysis of the statements that one of the most impactful problems is the prejudice experienced by these women, as well as the socioeconomic difficulties resulting from difficult employability, in addition to the changes in the body, resulting from the disease and treatment, generate a distorted image of time regarding the body before and after the disease. Furthermore, the main challenge is stigma in society. Final considerations: It is concluded that the body perception of women affected by leprosy, not only in the active period of the disease, but also when monitoring the sequelae, changes due to symptomatic characteristics and resulting from treatment with Polychemotherapy, however, which makes This change is a problem, it is the way they are treated by society, with exclusion and strong stigmas.