O significado de ser cuidador de pessoa com doença pulmonar obstrutiva crônica dependente de oxigenoterapia domiciliar

Abstract

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a condition characterized by airflow limitation, making it difficult the doing of daily routine activities by the sick person. It causes severe effects in the quality of life, becoming essential a caregiver to help with these daily activities, and it is common having a person from the family taking over of the care at home. The aim of this study was to understand the meaning of being the caregiver of a person with COPD who needs oxygenotherapy at home. It’s a research with qualitative approach using the concepts and assumptions of Symbolic Interactionism to comprehend the experience of taking care of a sick person. To that end, it was used as a methodological and conceptual reference the Grounded Theory which enabled the construction of a theoretical model about the studied phenomenon. The research was conducted at twenty familiar caregiver’s houses, in a city in the South of Minas Gerais. The strategies used to collect the data were an interview and the participant observation. The data collected from June to November 2015, after approval of the Research Ethics Committee of the Universidade Federal de Alfenas-MG, according to the Process number 1.092.501. The data collected was transcribed and analyzed using open coding, axial, and selective strategy. The analysis has resulted in two categories: “Finding oneself as a caregiver” and its subcategories “Accepting or not being a caregiver” and “Learning how to take care” and the category “Changing the situation of life according to the role as a caregiver” and its subcategories “Cohabiting with the hurdles” and “Looking for possibilities”. In the face of the changes in the life and the tasks linked to the caregiver role, the person looks for new meanings which may allow them giving a new sense to their existence and it lead to the construction of the main category: “Giving a new meaning to the life and to the role of the caregiver” representing the theoretical model of this study. This model allowed a better understanding of the phenomenon studied from the point of view of the caregiver himself and the context he was in.