REPRESENTAÇÃO SOCIAL NO USO DE PERUCAS E PRÓTESES MAMÁRIAS EM MULHERES SUBMETIDAS AO TRATAMENTO QUIMIOTERÁPICO

Considered a public health problem, cancer is a chronic and complex disease that requires different treatment strategies. Patients submitted to them suffer changes in their self-image that engender damage to their mental health and impair their self-esteem, influencing their quality and perspective of life. The study aims to identify the social representations in the use of wigs and breast implants in women undergoing chemotherapy treatment. This is a descriptive study, with a qualitative approach, with 40 women from the oncology sector of a teaching hospital that has a social and psychological assistance program. This program provides wigs and breast implants for its patients. Aiming to identify the social representations in the use of these accessories in women undergoing chemotherapy, recorded interviews were conducted, with the evocation point: when talking about wigs and/or breast implants, what comes to your mind? The responses were transcribed and the evocations extracted by the software IRaMuTeQ version 0.7 Alpha 2. As a result, it was obtained the cloud of word and similarity analysis to assess the evocations. Observing the maximum trunks in the similitude analyses, it appears that the social representations were based on the importance of its use, aswell as its meaning in the chemotherapeutic process. Therefore, it is understood that wigs as well as protesis help to promote health and quality of life as they enhance the self-esteem of women undergoing chemotherapy.