Il dolore come rappresentazione condivisa. Indagine con operatori della salute all’interno del progetto della regione Veneto "Ospedale e territorio senza dolore"

Pain as shared representation. An exploratory research within the Veneto region project "Hospital and Territory without Pain" - For long, Health Psychology has been interested in the cognitive processes which shape the concepts of health and illness. Less space has been devoted to the study of pain and its representation. Adopting a social representations approach, the present paper inquires the shared features of the representation of pain. In a joint interdisciplinary project University of Padova - Hospital of Rovigo, the content, field and structure of SR shared by health professionals (N = 245) and students (N = 163) have been analysed. Data gathered through a free association task to the word-stimulus "pain" has been sub- mitted to correspondence factor analysis and to analysis of rank and frequency. The results have been discussed with professionals in focus groups. The main results show a conception which appears normative, based on "classic" dualisms such as mind vs. body, evaluation vs. experience. The prevalence of aspects of classification, coherent with the diagnostic practice, enhances the importance of formative moments which allow to widen and diversify the span of interpretations and practices relative to the understanding and treatment of pain.

Key words: pain, social representations, professional, students, institutional change

Parole chiave: dolore, rappresentazioni sociali, professionisti, studenti, cambiamento istituzionale;

Alberta Contarello, Renata Cancian, Mauro Sarrica, Alessio Nencini, Il dolore come rappresentazione condivisa. Indagine con operatori della salute all’interno del progetto della regione Veneto "Ospedale e territorio senza dolore" in "PSICOLOGIA DELLA SALUTE" 2/2009, pp 27-49, DOI: 10.3280/PDS2009-002003