Social representations of tuberculosis by people with the disease.

OBJECTIVE:To understand the social representations of people with tuberculosis about the disease and its implications for following treatment. METHOD:A descriptive, qualitative study based on the Theory of Social Representations. It was conducted in a municipal health unit in the city of Belém. The participants were people diagnosed with tuberculosis and undergoing directly observed treatment, with the sample size defined by the data saturation technique. Data collection was done through semi-structured interviews. For data analysis it was used thematic content analysis. RESULTS:The records converged into three categories: Representations of tuberculosis and its impacts on the diagnosis; The faces of treatment: challenges facing follow-up and hope; and Constructions of living with the disease in family and society. FINAL CONSIDERATIONS:Living with the disease transforms everyday life and relationships. Discrimination and prejudice denote the need to reconfigure such representations for patients to be embraced.