Os significados do cuidar na visão do cuidador familiar de idosos hospitalizados

Abstract

This study was developed in order to understand the meanings of caring, in the vision of family caregivers, of hospitalized elderly. The theoretical- methodological basis was guided on the contributions of Social Constructionism, based on the guiding perspective of Community Social Psychology. It’s about a qualitative research, descriptive and exploratory. Data collection was made by semi-structured interviews, recorded on audio and based on a script with pre-formulated questions. Participants in the research were 15 primary and secondary family caregivers of elderly people over 65 years, hospitalized at a public hospital in Curitiba. On analysis it was used the method of discursive practices, proposed by Jane Mary Spink. The following categories were set: “Provided care”, “Caring the elderly related factors”, “Emotional aspects involved in accompanying the hospitalized elderly" and "Conditions provided by the hospital”, followed by their respective subcategories. Data analysis showed that among those interviewed, the female figure stands out, those being mostly daughters. In the speeches of the participants, we could observe that in between the meanings of taking care, in the vision of family caregivers, they assigned some characteristics regarded as difficult and exhausting, like the aid of personal needs of the dependent elderly, requiring a lot of responsability, dedication, patience and willpower and although this task is carried out with attention, fondness and pleasure, it carries the involvement of obligation feelings, duty and reward related to the good times experienced with the elderly, as well as negative feelings, such as anger, humiliation and sadness. The data shows the complexity of the process of taking care of a dependent elderly and the burden to the family caregiver, pointing out the need to supportive strategies and building new possibilities of attention to this social group in public hospital institutions, as well as the involvement of the multidisciplinary team included in the health/disease process. So, knowing the meaning of caring through the caregiver allows analyzing the responsibilities and detect the need for social support, witch contributes to a better caring and life quality of the caregiver, the elderly and his family.