O luto em tempos de covid-19

: a experiência dos familiares de doentes em cuidados paliativos

Abstract

This study aims to understand the bereavement process of family members of patients in Palliative Care during the COVID19pandemic, exploring the experience of the disease process, the facilitating and stressing factors of the process, as well as the coping strategies used. and, finally, the meanings gained from the loss of a loved one. Through a semi structured interview, the obtained data was based on the narratives of nine participants. Qualitative data analysis was performed according to the principles postulated by Grounded Theory, using the Nvivo 11 software. This study is relevant, as the literature on the phenomenon under study is scarce and adds useful and important information for understanding the bereavement process in a pandemic context, possibly for further research, or to take into account in the intervention in the mourning. Summarizing the results of this study, arising from the reports of bereaved relatives of patients in the context of PC, we contemplate a distinct previous reality that has been considered in more recent studies, namely, those in which the cause of death is due to COVID-19.

Date of Award	15 Jul 2021
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Elisa Veiga (Supervisor)