HEALTH-SICKNESS REPRESENTATIONS OF A GROUP OF WOMEN FROM THE OUTSKIRTS OF BELO HORIZONTE (1994-1996)

Abstract

This paper is a result of a field research based on qualitative data, carried out with a group of women living at Solimões and Conjunto Jardim Felicidade neighborhoods, in the
metropolitan arca of Belo Horizonte - MG, with the goal of identifying their representations ofthe health-sickness process. The data were collected througlh participative observation, semi-structured interviews and analyses of the interviews, according to the methodology proposed by BARDIN (1977), TRIVINOS (1987) and MINAYO (1993). The interviews, that lastedapproximately 60 minutes, were conducted from November, 1994 to July, 1995 with thirty women varying from 18
to 40 years of age, all of them with children between 0 and 5 years old. The analyses of the content of the interviews provided the categories of representation of the healtl^l-sickness process. Sickness is represented as funcional and utilitarian incapacity of the body. Health, besides beh^lg
represented as the contrary of sickness, in other words, a functional and utilitarian body, has yet many other representations, such as: a healthy lifestyle, qualified medical assistance, and also balanced and harmonious relations with nature and God. This study shows that these representations
are stricky related to the therapeutic alternatives adopted in the neighborhoods. Such alternatives, represented by scientific medicine, home medich^le, selfmedication, “blessings”, “witch doctors”, and miraculous cures are sought according to the conceptions of the health-sickness process.