The perception of subjective burden for family caregivers of cancer patients in palliative care

• Autor(a) principal: Conceição, Nathalia Brenda Diniz Soares da
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Outros Autores: Gama, Elvira Silvestre Chaves
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Revista Brasileira de Qualidade de Vida
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.utfpr.edu.br/rbqv/article/view/11636
• topic: 7.07.02.04-7 Estados Subjetivos e Emoção; Cuidadores; Familiares; Cuidados paliativos; Sobrecarga subjetiva.; Caregivers; Relatives; Palliative care; Subjective burden.

OBJECTIVE: Understand how family caregivers of cancer patients in palliative care perceive the subjective burden and its impacts on daily life.METHODS: The study is descriptive research, with a qualitative approach, using Laurence Bardin's Content Analysis as a method of data analysis. Data were collected at the Palliative Care Oncology Clinic at Ophir Loyola Hospital, located in Belém do Pará. The study interviewed four participants over 18 years old, all of whom were primary caregivers and family members of the patients. Data collection used a semi-structured interview. The interviews were transcribed in full and analyzed to formulate thematic categories related to the caregivers' perception of subjective burden.RESULTS: Three descriptive categories were developed: in the first category, difficulties emerged in sharing patient care with other family members; in the second, the caregivers' highlighted changes that occurred in their lives; and in the third, coping strategies were approached through religiosity/spirituality in the face of subjective overload and the context of terminality.CONCLUSIONS: Subjective overload appears discreetly, not directly observable. Demands related to it may not be identified and addressed, creating a feeling of helplessness and/or neglects of the main caregiver's suffering. Attention to subjective overload is essential in palliative care considering the patient-family binomial and should be a study object in the area.