Care for women involved with drugs: social representations of nurses.

Objective:: analyze social representations of nurses related to the care for women involved with drugs.

Method:: qualitative research founded on the theory of social representations, with 42 nurses from a public maternity ward of Salvador-BA, using identification questionnaire, test of free association of words, and semi-structured interview. We analyzed the structure of social representations and the similarity tree of free evocations, and also analyzed the content of interviews.

Results:: care for women involved with drugs is represented by a set of words that shows theoretical questions and scientific techniques, but faced with experiences in the training, in the daily work and in ideas and values assigned to the consumption of drugs especially in the gravidic-puerperal period.

Conclusion:: The social representations of nurses show conflicts between social and cultural aspects around the problem of drugs and the health care provided to women involved with drugs.