Stigma as a source of the social construction of the concept of pulmonary tuberculosis: perspective of nurses

Objective: to describe the social construction of the social concept of pulmonary tuberculosis that, from the perspective of nurses, emerges from concepts based on stigma. Method: descriptive study, qualitative approach, with 12 nurses from centers of pneumological diagnosis in northern Portugal. Data collected in November 2020 and January 2021 by semi-structured interview, subsequently analyzed by content analysis methodology. Results: from the participants’ discourses, the concept of pulmonary tuberculosis emerges. The understanding of the disease is surrounded by myths and taboos, with a bleak prognosis, causes fear of contagion, death, fear, shame, estrangement, social isolation and denial of the disease. Among nurses, talking about tuberculosis is a topic to avoid, it is an area that causes confusion and fear. Final considerations: the concept of the word tuberculosis persists rooted in concepts and prejudices. Social stigma remains at its core and perpetuates its negative concept to the present day.