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

OBJECTIVES: to learn and analyze the structure of nurses' social representations about transvestite people. METHODS: 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. RESULTS: 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. FINAL CONSIDERATIONS: 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.