Tomar conta de dependentes em casa

: estudo exploratório acerca dos recursos e suportes para o exercício do papel membro da família prestador de cuidados

Abstract

This paper reports a research about caregivers of dependents in their homes, specifically focusing on aspects that can influence the transition to the role - the resources and support structures available. Through a better understanding of the nature of support and resources mobilized by caregivers, we intend to contribute to the improvement of quality of nursing care. It’s a prospective, longitudinal, qualitative and exploratory study, using the Grounded Theory principles of data analysis. The participants of this study were six caregivers and their care receivers who were admitted in any medical service of the CHTS-EPE. Data collection occurred between June 2007 and October 2008, and consisted of three interviews at each of the caregivers in three distinct points in time: (i) before dependent’s discharge, (ii) one week after dependent’s discharge and (iii) about two month after dependent’s discharge. From the data analysis we realized that the factors explaining the used, needed and perceived support for caretaking refer to aspects related to caregiver and care receiver. The caregiver’s condition, particularly their health problems, as well as other competing needs such as household tasks and professional occupations, are also aspects that explain the desire and use of support to caretaking. With regard to the personal conditions of the caregiver, meanings, the socioeconomic status and preparation / knowledge are also factors that explain the studied phenomena. In what refers to the dependent person, we note that the higher is self-care dependency and cognitive processes impairment, the higher is the desire and, if available, the use of support. However, when caregivers are aware of the potential for recovery of care receiver’s autonomy, the needed and used support structures tend to increase. In terms of temporal evolution of the phenomenon, the results show a peak of desire and use of support, especially instrumental support, in early times (one - two weeks) after care receiver´s returning home. The needs of emotional support are something that tends to widen over time; as caregiver concerning with instrumental caretaking tends to decrease over time, their (caregiver) emotional support needs tend to increase.

Date of Award	May 2011
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Filipe Pereira (Supervisor)