Percepção de estudantes de Terapia Ocupacional frente ao atendimento de pacientes com hanseníase

Brazil is considered the second most endemic country in the world for Hansen’s disease. Despite the growing investment in prevention and public information, the stigma surrounding morbidity hinders its diagnosis and treatment. With a biopsychosocial approach, the occupational therapist composes the multidisciplinary team providing care for lepers. Objective: Therefore, it is important to know the perceptions of professionals under academic training towards the care of patients suffering from leprosy. Methods: It is a qualitative exploratory-\ud-descriptive research carried out with undergraduate students of Occupational Therapy from a public university. An open semi-structured interview was used as technique for data collection; it addressed students’ expectation about the first contact with leprosy patients, their feelings in the first moment, the influence of their classmates’ behavior, the preparation to perform the service, and the interest to continue working in this area. Results: It was possible to observe that students have knowledge about the disease, its causative agent, its mode of transmission,\udand its physical and social implications. We also noted that access to information was of utmost importance, so that\udmost students did not create negative expectations regarding patient care. Conclusion: The study demonstrated how leprosy can still cause fear in the population and that this may influence the behavior of health professionals if they are not properly trained to deal with leprosy patients