Estudo etnobiológico sobre o uso de plantas para o tratamento de convulsões em crianças

Abstract

Seizures are the most common neurological disorders during childhood. Approximately 4% of children will have at least one seizure episode by the age of 15. Stigmas, magical, and religious thoughts have still permeated the convulsions. Besides conventional pharmacological treatment, mostly, traditional communities used plants to treat seizures in homemade or ritualistic preparations. Therefore, the study worked with the following hypotheses: the plant most referred to for managing seizures in a traditional community has anticonvulsant effects, and the magical-religious thinking enhanced the community's perception about the anticonvulsant effect reported for the species. Thus, this research aimed to investigate the beliefs and concepts about seizures and the traditional treatments used to manage recurrent and non-recurring seizures in children in the community, focusing on plant species. The collection was carried out in the quilombo community Sítio Arruda, located in Araripe, Ceará. The sample was non-probabilistic, and the research subjects were contacted directly in the community. Research participants were between 18 and 85 years old and outlined knowledge regarding the use and management of medicinal plants to treat acute or chronic seizures. For data collection, the free listing technique, a socioeconomic form, and a semi-structured interview script were applied. In analyzing qualitative data related to beliefs and concepts, the Discouse of the Collective Speech (DCS) was used. For the analysis of ethnobiological data, the free listing technique and the relative frequency of citation (RFC) were applied. About the concepts and beliefs, 14 central ideas emerged, the most prevalent being "Seizure is the most common type of disease in children" (50.0%); "The seizure occurs because of the fever" (42.0%); "In the community, we treat and prevent seizures with the use of plants" (63.2%). Regarding ethnobiological data, the study identified 19 species. The most cited being Gossypium herbaceum (0.36). By the free listing technique, Myristica fragrans was the most present species in the collective imagination. For both, pharmacological tests indicate anticonvulsant action. The perception of community members about the anticonvulsant effect for the species mentioned was enhanced by cultural factors and by magical and religious thinking, with elements of the perception of healing and faith emerging from the informants' discourse through the analysis with DSC. This research aimed to rescue and preserve the knowledge of the quilombo community of Sítio Arruda. Also, it seeks to shed light on possible species with anticonvulsant action, aiming at the elaboration of patents and the manufacture of herbal medicines.