Social representations of health professionals about terminally ill children and adolescents

ABSTRACT Purpose: to understand the social representations of health professionals about terminally ill children and adolescents in different work settings. Methods: a qualitative, descriptive, exploratory study was conducted with ten health professionals, selected through the technique of network sampling. The instruments for data collection were semi-structured interviews, and free association of words. The analysis of the data followed the steps of content analysis, subsidized by the theory of social representations, with the support of Atlas.ti software. Results: the analysis of the interviews presented 115 excerpts of statements, condensed into 11 codes, which were grouped into three categories: experiences, strategies, and consequences of conviviality with terminality; mission and amorousness in a terminal condition; terminality as the end of life. The free association of words resulted in 52 evocations, with an emphasis on suffering, pain, love, mission, and family. Conclusion: the social representations of health professionals about terminally ill children and adolescents are associated with the situations being experienced, the strategies developed to deal with these moments in the exercise of the profession, and the consequences that this experience causes in the health professionals.