Disease Representation in Therapist and Patient Relationship

Domingues, M. 1
1 CPES Research Center. University of Lusofona, Humanities and Technology

The theory of social representations has proved to be useful in the attainment of

psychosocial diagnoses with respect to important questions in the health area. It enables
us to obtain a socially-shared knowledge about relevant objects, and in this way, helps
the implementation of health programs. In this connection, how people understand
health could also be of importance for the social order. The theory of social
representations is useful for describing ways of understanding health and their
consequences for the social order (Howarth, 2006), as is the case of this present study
on representations of health and illness. The subject has some importance as the studies
done in Poland by Puchalski, Korzeniowska, and Piwowarska-Pościk (1999) suggest that
social representations of health could condition health practices. he role of other
persons, institutions, and phenomena in driving the process of medicalization appears
to be growing. These include pharmaceutical firms, which desire a larger market for their
products; lay groups, which demand that certain conditions and behaviors be recognized
as diseases; patients, who are increasingly like clients or consumers in requiring certain
medical interventions; and also biotechnology and ‘managed care’ (Conrad 2004;
Conrad 2005). This study characterizes the social representations of the health-disease
process of subjects in Osteopathy. In fact, Osteopathy reproduces a unique
battleground for the establishment of a social encounter between the expectancies of
health and the disability of disease. Regarding methodology, a 13-item questionnaire
was used to verify the social meaning of disease and its representation in health-disease
process. Patients were confronted with their concepts of how the disease affects their
overall social representation. Items such as security, fear and disbelieve, social
interaction and self-esteem were obtained and quantified. The underlying results
suggest new forms of encounter in the patient-disease relationship and the established
meanings of being healthy.

References
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 P u c h a l s k i, K., K o r z e n i o w s k a, E., P i w o w a r s k a - P o ś c i k, L. 1999.
Aktywność zdrowotna a świadomość potoczna. Łódź: Instytut Medycyny Pracy.