The lexicon of the indigenous communities of Ceará in the designation of diseases: reflections for the construction of controlled vocabulary

ABSTRACT We present here the results of a research whose objective is to construct a Controlled Vocabulary of Popular Disease Names (CVPDN) based on the lexicon used by the indigenous communities of Ceará, by establishing relationships with the specialized terminology of the Health area. This is an applied research, with the empirical study being conducted in four stages: interview with the leaders and shamans of the Tapebas, Pitaguarys and Jenipapo-Kanindés indigenous communities, located in the state of Ceará; Mapping of the popular diseases’ names in popular and specialized terminological sources; Construction of the CVPDN prototype with the mapped words showing the relationships with the ICD-10 terminology. The results show 355 (three hundred and fifty-five) words belonging to the lexicon of the investigated communities. Comparison of results presents little coincidence between the words that nominate diseases among the people investigated - only 41 (forty-one) with 9 (nine) being repeated in the three communities; 15 (fifteen) repeating themselves between Tapebas and Pitaguarys communities; 6 (six) between Tapebas and Jenipapo-Kanindés communities; 11 (eleven) coincide between Pitaguarys and Genipapo-kanindés communities. We conclude that the construction of the CVPDN is of great importance, both for the preservation of the lexical memory of these communities and also to enable communication between these peoples and health professionals and in the care actions of those citizens.