As representações sociais de profissionais de urgência e emergência sobre o suicídio infantil

Abstract

Estimates made by the World Health Organization (WHO) report a significant 60% increase over the past 40 years in suicide rates worldwide. With regard to child suicide, this is the fifth leading cause of child mortality worldwide. In the Brazilian scenario, a survey conducted between 2003 and 2013 showed that in the North and Northeast regions, unlike the other regions, there was an increase in infant suicide rates, and in the State of Amazonas more than tripled the number of occurrences. Despite the existingdata, it is known that the numbers recorded in Brazil are not very accurate, and there is no satisfactory differentiation between deaths of children due to suicide, accidents and homicides, being common that the occurrences are attributed to "external causes". The precariousness in the records of these occurrences in the children's public can be understood as a manifestation of the existing taboo in dealing with this phenomenon, a way of denying it. Therefore, the purpose of this dissertation was to investigate with the pediatric emergency / emergency professionals of the city of Manaus their conceptions about child suicide, using the analysis of the Central Nucleus of Social Representation Theory. The Association of Words technique was used to collect datafrom the term "Suicide Child". Data were processed by the OpenEVOC software, resulting in a four-quadrant chart in which it was possible to locate the probable central core and peripheries of the Social Representation. The findings point to the centralityof the Representation to the "Family Destruction" cognition, and in the peripheries it was possible to perceive contents related to the possible causes, management of the professionals, emotional reactions of these as well as the existing gaps in the health care network that vulnerabilize children in distress.