Experiência de profissionais e familiares diante da morte de pacientes com câncer em cuidados paliativos

Abstract

Many professionals in thanatology emphasize the necessary practical implication of the study about death, especially regarding the clinical/psycotherapy strategies. Understanding the process of dying and death will help caregivers (professionals and family) to interfere positively with the patients that are facing problems associated with life-threatening diseases. The present study, held over the theoretical perspective of hospital psychology , psycho-oncology and hermeneutics, focus on the experience of caregivers facing death and its goal is to identify the significances built around death and care of people analyzed (relatives and professionals who deal with patients facing death). For this purpose, a focal group was created with a semi-structured program of a group of homecare professionals who attend terminal patients of a referenced oncologist hospital in Salvador/BA. Additionally, interviews were conducted with ten relatives that take care of a severely ill patient with cancer. As a result of the analyses of the focal group, four categories were well defined (mentoring of a caregiver, conceptions of a caregiver, challenges of the work and believes and attitudes about death) that these professionals analyze about their practice. The result of the interviews with the family members is a reflection of how challenging it is to provide care facing death. Finally a comparative analysis was made between these two groups regarding the four categories. As a conclusion, some concerns were done about the results of the research and about the contribuitions of this study for health care, and more specifically for palliative care.