title: Persons living with AIDS in nurses' social representations: analysis of central, contranormative and attitudinal elements.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  to describe and analyze the centrality, the mute zone and the attitudes expressed in nurses' social representations of people with Human Immunodeficiency Virus.
  
  
  METHODS
  the subjects were 30 nurses from a university hospital in Rio de Janeiro. The data was collected using a Likert scale.
  
  
  RESULTS
  the data pointed to a process of representational change regarding Human Immunodeficiency Virus / Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, with the assumption of a more positive attitude regarding living with this health issue. The hypothesis of the existence of a mute zone in the representation, comprising elements with a contranormative character, was strengthened.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  the influence of the dynamics of social normativity on how the social representations studied are expressed may contribute to a better understanding of its structuring process. It also helps in the analysis of possible gaps among the nurses' discourses and practices in relation to Human Immunodeficiency Virus / Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome.
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro-Campus Macaé, Brazil. tadeulessa@yahoo.com.br
authors.forename: Tadeu Lessa
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: da Costa
authors.forename: Denize Cristina
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: de Oliveira
authors.forename: Gláucia Alexandre
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Formozo
authors.forename: Antonio Marcos Tosoli
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Gomes
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome; D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009726:Nurses / Q000523:psychology*; D011593:Psychology, Social