Social representations on diabetic foot: contributions to PHC in the Brazilian Northeast

This study aimed to identify the structuring elements guiding the establishment of the social representations of diabetic foot among people with diabetes mellitus. This qualitative study is based on the Social Representations Theory and was conducted in a capital of the Brazilian Northeast. The free word association test and a roadmap were used to characterize the sociodemographic and clinical profile to collect data. The analysis was performed using openEVOC software. The constituent elements of the diabetic foot's social representation "cure" and "really bad", revealing that living with a diabetic foot is challenging, but there is hope for a cure, which is a driving force in the daily search for care. The "prevention" element emerged in the representational field, denoting a more critical view and a capacity to transform the identified core elements. We found that the representational structure is based on subjective, valuating, and attitudinal contents. This knowledge can contribute to the design of interventions in the provision of care and diabetic foot screening in PHC services.