[Obstacles to compliance with treatment for Hansen's disease]

This research project aimed at identifying some of the factors related to leprosy patient compliance with the multidrug treatment regimen. The methodological framework of the Social Representations Theory was used. Two groups of patients were interviewed: compliant and non-compliant with treatment and those coming from two different health services. We observed a common understanding about treatment in the various interviews, expressed as a metaphor to describe the treatment experience: the figure of a battle in which the bacillus is portrayed as a threat, the patient as a victim, the medication as a weapon and the health professional as a hero or saint. Still, the medication is represented as being both good and bad for the patient's well-being. Finally, quality of the physician-patient relationship appeared to be the main difference between the two groups of subjects studied.