Consolidação do centro de testagem e aconselhamento para o vírus da imunodeficiência humana no município de São João de Meriti: contribuições da enfermagem (1997-2005)

Abstract

This thesis aims to analyze the role of nursing in the process of consolidation of the Counseling and Testing Center (CTA) for HIV/AIDS in the municipality of São João de Meriti, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, between 1997 and 2005. This is a historical-social study grounded in the perspective of the History of the Present Time, using written, iconographic, and oral documentary sources. The theoretical and methodological framework is based on Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of field, habitus, and symbolic capital, articulated with Erving Goffman’s theory of stigma, enabling an understanding of the meanings and symbolic effects of nursing practice in the context of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The findings indicate that the consolidation of the CTA in São João de Meriti took place in a context marked by social inequalities, structural weaknesses in the public health system, and strong stigma associated with HIV/AIDS. In this scenario, nursing played a central role in organizing the service, expanding access to testing, providing counseling, and developing care practices grounded in welcoming, qualified listening, and comprehensive care. Nursing actions contributed to strengthening public health policies at the local level, promoting the decentralization of prevention and diagnostic strategies and fostering stronger bonds between users and health services. It is concluded that, throughout the consolidation process of the CTA/SJM, nursing accumulated symbolic capital and established itself as a strategic agent in the field of HIV/AIDS care, not only in technical and operational terms but also as a political and social actor. This study contributes to the preservation of the institutional memory of the CTA and to the historical recognition of nursing in the response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, highlighting its relevance in the construction of ethical, humanized, and socially committed care practices aligned with the principles of the Brazilian Unified Health System.