Antinomias do doador de sangue fidelizado: representações sociais polêmicas e transversais de um conceito em construção

Abstract

Introduction: The blood donor is an individual who attends a hemotherapy service and donates blood after approval in clinical screening. World Health Organization data Health and the Ministry of Health of Brazil show a lack of altruistic and loyal blood donors. The complexity surrounding a blood donation includes temporary disabilities, with emphasis on anemia; Increasing the maximum age for a blood donation from 67 to 69 years and the social representations of loyal donors - considering that the Theory of Social Representations is about transforming something unknown into something known and family. General objective: To analyze the social representations of blood donors for the first time in a hemotherapy service. Specific Objectives: To understand the concept of "loyal blood donor" from the perspective of Walker and Avant; Characterize the sociodemographic profile of first-time blood donors; To describe anemia as the primary cause of temporary disability for blood donation; Discuss the blood donation of elderly people in private hemotherapy service. Methods: Descriptive exploratory study, quantitative-qualitative approach, using tools from the theory of Social Representations, characterized as mixed methods. The survey was conducted in the Hematology Service Hemovida Ltda, a private institution located in Natal, State of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. Data were collected from July to December 2015. Three instruments were used to collect the data: a review of the area literature for concept analysis; Registration worksheet for collecting secondary data in electronic medical records; Questionnaire with voice recording of the participants to collect the primary data from guiding questions. It was based on the understanding that these instruments are complementary to each other, allowing the triangulation of the information necessary to carry out the study. The data collected by the questionnaire were submitted to ALCESTE and thematic analysis in light of the social representations and the central core theory. Results: They were discussed in four Article: Article I – “Loyal blood donor: a conceptual analysis”, which demonstrates the lack of a consensual concept about what is a "loyal blood donor" or metrics to measure and extend it in a consistent, universal, equitable and integral manner; Article II – “Anemia as a temporary unfitness factor for blood donation”, in which a quantitative cross-sectional study with data collected in the Clinical Triage module of the Hemote Plus® software is carried out. The results demonstrate that anemia is the most prevalent cause of disability, impairing the health of Population and blood stocks in hemotherapy services; Article III – “Elderly blood donor: necessary and current contribution”, refers to a cross-sectional, descriptive study performed with 86 elderly people, who donated to meet the need of a patient. It was found that the low number of elderly donors is due to the disinformation regarding the current limit of the maximum age for donation and comorbidities; Article IV – “Social Representation of the Loyal Blood Donor: a controversial or transverse concept under construction”, this is an exploratory-descriptive study, with quantitative, qualitative and representational data, with 121 individuals who attended for the first time to donate blood in a hemotherapy service. The sociodemographic and interview data were submitted to the software ALCESTE (Analyse Lexicale par Contexte d'un Ensemble de Segment de Texte) and analyzed in the light of Social Representation Theory and Central Core Theory complemented by the Bardin content analysis. The null hypothesis has been refuted and the alternative accepted: there are social representations of the loyal blood donor of the controversial type. Conclusions: Conclusions: It is concluded that the format of quantitative and qualitative collection and analysis in a concomitant way, inserted in the mixed methods, in light of the social representations postulated from hypotheses the data analysis, open space for Multidisciplinarity. This is particularly true when the concept of loyal blood donor is a controversial or transverse concept under construction that refers to controversial social representations.