O cuidado sob o olhar do paciente oncológico : o cotidiano junto à família e à equipe de saúde

Abstract

The day-to-day experience of patients with cancer consolidates itself as a threat to their stability and to their extended family. When patients receive home care, they thrive on a series of feelings that emerge from the patient-caregiver relationship within daily cares. It is thus highly important to understand the patients´ feelings during the home care process since, due to cancer, the transformation in their lives creates the need for care. Current analysis endeavors to understand the daily cares of patients with cancer when they experience care in their own homes from the Primary health Care and from their families. Qualitative research is based on Heidegger´s phenomenology and comprises 20 interviewed patients attended to by the Family Health Strategy of a municipality in the northwestern region of the state of Paraná, Brazil, between November 2012 and February 2013. Patients were asked the following questions: "Tell your experience in being cared for by your family?" and "Tell your experience in being cared for by the health team?" Data analysis followed Josgrilberg and the participants were coded by nom-de-plumes from The Diary of Anne Frank for anonymity. Study was previously approved by the Committee for Ethics in Research of the State University of Maringá, Protocol 435/2011. Analysis results revealed the feeling of patients with cancer when they experienced two care modalities: from the Primary Health Care, by the ontological themes: Experiencing the impersonality of health professionals: from diagnosis to treatment and Meeting the care that frees; and the care given by relatives in home, with two themes: Alone in the presence of the other and Meeting the basis of life through love. The interpretation of the subjects´ discourse revealed that patients received impersonal and inauthentic care from Family Health Strategy professionals as primary care. The health professional assumed a closed mode when facing the other and acted superficially in his/her daily deeds. Within an open attitude, the professional may become a being-with since his/her concern for the other provides an opening towards liberty. The same occurs within the family milieu where, within daily conviviality, the relative is frequently installed as inauthentic and remains together-with but fails to open to being-with the other. However, walking in non-authenticity is not a static characteristic but a pathway towards authenticity. The latter occurs when care flows from love and becomes natural. Consequently, attitudes and feelings during the zeal and care process arise from true willingness. When trying to understanding the weaknesses in their activities with patients suffering from cancer, it is a fact that impersonal and inauthentic attitudes may transcend unto a new assistance level. Further, home care coupled to palliative care is likely to alleviate those who, during suffering, saw their lives threatened.