The social representations of Covid-19 among Primary Health Care’ users in the Federal District, Brazil: a psychosocial approach

Brazil was one
of the countries most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, including severe
psycho-social effects. This study aimed to analyze the Federal District Primary
Health Care users’ Social Representations (SR) regarding Covid-19 through
exploration of the elements that comprise their field, identification of the
variations of their prominence, as well as analyze the relations and
differences among them according to their socio-demographic characteristics and
the participants' exposure to the disease. It was based on the Moscovici theory
of social representations. 1,714 users from the Federal District Primary Health
Units regions participated in the study: Central-South, North, West, Southwest,
East and South. For the data collection, the free evocation technique was used.
The data were analyzed by the Iramuteq software in the prototypical modality, analyzing
similitude and analyzing x2 test of the most prominent words,
considering the socio-demographic and Covid-19 exposure variables ,
establishing p <0.05. It has been found that the social representations of
the pandemic among the Federal District PHC’ users formed a dyad: doctor and
death. It was observed, however, that the doctor-death relationship was
organized according to the vulnerabilities present in the face of the pandemic
context and the affective-emotional aspects, the most excluded social segments
experiencing the terrifying feelings caused by the virus, particularly the
confrontation with death and its consequences, along with the absence of hope.
In particular, it was evident that the representation of an absent or omissive
State, due to the lack of protective measures for people already socially
excluded, who demanded agile, more equitable policies, configured from the
perspective of bioethics a moral debt on the part of the State to this
population.

Keywords: Covid-19;
Social representation; Primary Health care; Bioethics.