Banca de QUALIFICAÇÃO: FLAVIA LOMBA COSTA

Uma banca de QUALIFICAÇÃO de DOUTORADO foi cadastrada pelo programa.
STUDENT : FLAVIA LOMBA COSTA
DATE: 13/08/2026
TIME: 14:00
LOCAL: Seropedica
TITLE:

Social Representations of Autism by Autistic and Non-Autistic Adults: Considering Contributions from the Embodied Subject

KEY WORDS:

Autism Spectrum Disorder; Social Representations Theory; Central Core Theory; Embodiment; Person with Disability.

PAGES: 52
BIG AREA: Ciências Humanas
AREA: Psicologia
SUBÁREA: Psicologia Social
SPECIALTY: Processos Grupais e de Comunicação
SUMMARY:

This qualitative research is divided into two studies. The first aims to identify and compare the social representations of autism among non-autistic adults, divided into two groups: those who live with autistic individuals and those who neither live with nor have frequent contact with people on the autism spectrum. Participants will be recruited online. This study adopts the structural approach of the Social Representations Theory (SRT). Data will be collected through a questionnaire administered to a total of 200 participants, with 100 individuals in each of the two groups. The questionnaire begins with a free word association task using the stimulus word autism. Data will be processed using IRaMuTeQ (Interface de R pour les Analyses Multidimensionnelles de Textes et de Questionnaires), followed by an analysis based on the Central Core Theory (Abric, 2001b), complemented by thematic-categorical content analysis of the open-ended questions, following Bardin (1977, 2016). The study seeks to identify the content of the social representations and to formulate hypotheses regarding the centrality of the most salient representational elements. It also aims to examine whether aspects related to autistic embodiment emerge in participants' accounts of their experiences of living with autistic individuals.

The second study aims to identify and compare the social representations of autism among autistic adults and non-autistic adults who live with autistic individuals. Participants in both groups must actively post about autism on the social media platform Instagram®, through which they will be recruited. Data will be generated through semi-structured interviews, including adaptations designed for autistic participants in order to ensure accessibility, particularly for individuals requiring higher levels of support, many of whom have complex communication needs. The resulting data will be analyzed using thematic-categorical content analysis (Bardin, 1977, 2016). This study seeks to investigate whether autistic embodiment influences autistic individuals' social representations of autism, while also exploring the possibility of a shared or joint embodiment (Hart, 2014) between autistic individuals and their caregivers, a concept that requires further clarification.

As a potential point of dialogue with the first study, this research also seeks to examine the possible impact of distance from the object (distance à l'objet) (Abric, 2001a), considering three levels of proximity: individuals with no contact with autistic people, those who have direct contact—specifically, those who live with autistic individuals—and autistic individuals themselves. In this regard, the study hypothesizes that it is impossible to fully understand the complexity of autistic individuals' social representations of autism without considering the cognitive, sensory-perceptual, and emotional specificities of their embodiment, while also acknowledging the sociocultural factors that shape their lived experiences. By extension, the study proposes that distance from the object may itself possess an embodied dimension.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Presidente - 1765641 - LUCIENE ALVES MIGUEZ NAIFF
Externa ao Programa - 1330831 - RAQUEL DE OLIVEIRA GUERREIRO - UFRRJExterno à Instituição - RITA DE CASSIA PEREIRA LIMA