Perception of health professionals about the prevention of the AIDS epidemic in Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil (1986-2006)

Abstract

Socio-historical research whose aim was to know the perception of health professionals about AIDS epidemic prevention from 1986 to 2006. They worked in a reference hospital for infectious and contagious diseases. The data was collected from March to October 2011, using the oral story technique, and the subjects were twenty-three health professionals who looked after people suffering from Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome during the above mentioned period. The content analysis described by Bardin was used and two categories came up: the need for preventive strategies and the lack of using condoms. The results showed that the health professionals' perception about AIDS prevention was bad due to: the media fragility, the health professionals' actions regarding preventive strategies and the trivialization of the preventive measures by the society, by not using condoms in sexual intercourse. We concluded that ignoring the disease led to slowing down the process of clarifying and preventing HIV/AIDS.