title: [Social representations of HIV/AIDS among healthcare professionals in benchmark services].
abstract: This study was based on exploratory research and a qualitative approach within the framework of the Social Representations Theory. It aims to capture the social representations of healthcare providers in relation to HIV/AIDS by describing their structure.The Free Evocations technique was applied on 86 professionals of HIV/AIDS benchmark services in Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil, from 2011 to 2013. Analysis using EVOC 2005 software showed that the possible central core is prejudice in a negative attitude dimension; in the contrast zone, chronic disease translates living with the disease. In the first periphery, treatment and disease in a clinical/biometric conception; in the second periphery, death has a imagistic and negative nature. Positive and negative elements were observed, allowing healthcare personnel to construct meaning attributed to the phenomenon and reflect on their practices.
authors.forename: Mariana de Sousa
authors.initials: Mde S
authors.lastname: Dantas
authors.forename: Fátima Maria da Silva
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Abrão
authors.forename: Clara Maria Silvestre Monteiro
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: de Freitas
authors.forename: Denize Cristina
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: de Oliveira
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000628:therapy; D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D019985:Benchmarking; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012938:Social Perception