Brazilian Nursing Communication Symposium
SIBRACEN

Abstract

IGUE, Cristina Emiko, ROLIM, Marli Alves and STEFANELLI, Maguida Costa. Suicide and its social representations: schemes for organizing communication about the phenomenon. In Proceedings of the 8. Brazilian Nursing Communication Symposium, 2002, San Pablo (SP, Brazil) [online]. 2002 [cited 19 April 2024]. Available from: <http://www.proceedings.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=MSC0000000052002000200001&lng=en&nrm=iso> .

This study aims to identify the representations members of a nursing team elaborate about the suicide phenomenon in a psychiatric institution. Twenty members of the nursing team (10 nurses and 10 nursing assistants) were interviewed. The ethical aspects of the research were considered. Data were submitted to content analysis according to Bardin, supported by the theoretical-methodological reference base of Moscovici’s social representation theory: "Individual choice", "flight", "lack of perspective", "self-destructive behavior" and "violence against others", "phenomenon linked to psychiatric disorders and serious organic diseases" were themes that delineated the category "Suicide - how to understand it?". It is important to know the professionals` social representation about suicide because they constitute structuring cores , i.e., "organizing schemes of interpretations and communication that do not only allow for the social comprehension but also guide the action"(SPINK, 1989).

Keywords : suicide; psychiatric nursing; psychic suffering.