As vivências do familiar cuidador no regresso a casa do idoso dependente, após o internamento em cuidados intensivos

Abstract

Population ageing has also manifested itself in intensive care units. The survivors of serious illness are now elderly, already with previous frailty and vulnerability, who return to the community even more fragile and in need of greater family support, requiring the caregivers knowledge and preparation on the return home of the dependent elderly. Sharing this concern, we developed a study, whose main objective was to understand the Family Caregiver experience when returning home to the dependent elderly, after hospitalization in Intensive Care, identifying factors that facilitate and hinder this experience, the strategies used, as well as expectations about the future, with a holistic nursing care perspective. We opted for a phenomenological-hermeneutic approach. We conducted eight interviews. The narratives were interpreted according to van Manen’s assumptions. Three themes emerged: "How it all began" where one understands the importance of the news of the hospitalization, the period of hospitalization of the elderly in intensive care and recognizes how the participants decided to be caregivers. The theme "Now Caregiver: the experience", describes the feelings experienced in the role of caregiver, the difficulties felt, the strategies implemented and the resources used. The elderly person is identified as an active part of the care process, and may be facilitating or hindering. Finally, the theme "A different life", reveals how the participants face the new life, in this role of caregiver. We conclude that the Family Caregiver experience in the return to home of the elderly, after the hospitalization in intensive care, understands the confrontation with a sudden event of serious illness and what it implies. When the perspective of the return to the home of the elderly, comes the confrontation with the need to identify who will care. On the return to the home of the elderly, the experience of Being Caregiver closes the experience of feelings, of a more or less positive attribute, difficulties are experienced, strategies are implemented and resources are activated. The meaning attributed to the care of the elderly, by the Family Caregivers, contributes to the acceptance and integration of this role, manifesting themselves satisfied with the new life or, on the other hand, the frustration with the role, makes them dissatisfied with life, desiring their life back. The knowledge of this experience opens the perspective of an adequate and specific nursing practice regarding the preparation of the Family Caregiver for the return home of the dependent elderly after hospitalization in intensive care.

Date of Award	18 May 2021
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Teresa Amaral (Supervisor)