"Experiences marked by prejudice(s)?": nurses' representations on 'transvestite' people

to learn and analyze the structure of nurses' social representations about transvestite people.

a qualitative research based on the Theory of Social Representations, with 110 nurses enrolled in Graduate Nursing courses, who answered the Free-Association Test, with the stimulus 'transvestite'. Data were processed by the software Ensemble de Programmes Permettant I' Analysedes Évocations.

in the central nucleus, the term "prejudice" was the most evoked, followed by "homosexual", "identity" and "female-make-up". Social representation is anchored in the social organization in which transvestite people are still seen and/or associated with homosexuals who make up and assume an identity, without being seen and/or understood as they really are.

although prejudice is noteworthy as a central element, terms present in the peripheral system reveal that the group recognizes transvestites as a person with rights, which can translate into health care practices.