SOCIAL REPRESENTATIONS OF PRIMARY HEALTH CARE WORKERS ABOUT LGBT PEOPLE

Abstract In Brazil, despite the improvements in guaranteeing the human rights of Lesbians, Gays, Bissexuals, and Transsexuals, this population is still in a considerable situation of vulnerability. The goal of the present bioethics research was to understand the social representations of the Primary Health Care workers regarding these people, following the premise that these representations can act as obstacles for the access to actions and services. A total of 15 workers from the network of the city of Florianópolis, in the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil, were interviewed. The data collected were analyzed quantitatively based on the Social Representation Theory, through the thematic analysis of the content. The results showed that the social representations on the part of the workers are strongly founded on religious and heterenomous morals, and they understand the group in question based on an idea of promiscuity, risk of acquiring sexually-transmitted infections, stereotypes, and they understand their sexuality and gender identity as incorrect, biologically determined or even unnatural, subject to personal choice. Sexuality is a dimension of private life that cannot remain subjected to moralism. Social representations must be dealt with in the contexts of education and work in health, in order to broaden the access of the people in question regarding actions and services, as well as quality care.