Experiência da família enlutada acerca da morte por câncer

Abstract

This study aimed to "Understand the experience of the bereaved family about death by cancer", using the Interpretative Anthropology as a base Clifford Geertz. This is a study with a qualitative approach, carried out with bereaved families, indicated and / or selected from the Home and Interdisciplinary Internment Program and the Group of Bereaved Caregivers linked to it. 14 families participated, 13 female relatives and one male relative. Data collection was carried out from August 2018 to February 2019, through an in-depth interview, simple observation, recorded in the field diary. The interviews were conducted individually, in a reserved room at the Federal University of Pelotas (UFPEL) Palliative Care outpatient clinic- Cuidativa unit,and in the participants' homes. The study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of Faculty of Medicine UFPEL, under number 2,773,271. The organization and management of data using the WebQDA software and data analysis was in accordance with the proposal of thematic analysis by Braun and Clarke. The results are presented in four themes: “Identifying and getting to know the participants”, in this first theme, we tried to present the participants and point out the socio-cultural characteristics of each one; in the second theme "The family's experience in advanced cancer", the aspects related to illness, symptoms, treatments, impact of the disease and terminality on the participants' lives are pointed out; in the third theme “The process of death of the person with cancer in the family's vision”, it presents the approach about death for each family, the symptoms present in tthe last weeks of life, the place where the death occurred, the types of burial and the family understanding of death and dying; and in the last theme “Family life after the death of a loved one: experiences during mourning”, aspects related to the phase of mourning were addressed, from separation, and distribution of the deceased's belongings, of support at this stage. It is considered that this study made it possible to know the context and the experiences of bereaved families, in the face of death by cancer. However, knowing that mourning is a process, it is necessary to understand that the experience of the participants has not been ended, as adaptation and time may vary individually.