Enfermedad Incurable y su Impacto en la Familia, Cuenca 2017

Abstract

Introduction: Family care is conceptualized as union, association, respect and dignity. Families of terminally ill patients play an essential role with communication and decision making to provide vital support to their loved one; they become the "voice" of the patient. Objective: Describe the impact of the presence of an incurable patient in the family, Cuenca 2017. Methodology: a qualitative phenomenological study was carried out, with a constructivist-interpretive paradigm based on Bertalanffy's Systems Theory. The participants were assigned through selective sampling of families in the city of Cuenca, captured in: Hospital Vicente Corral Moscoso, Solca, First Level Units, these families have an incurable patient in their nucleus. The in-depth interview was used as a technique. The data analysis included selective coding, contextual analysis and interpretation of participants' meanings of opinions. The Atlas ti program was used to analyze the data. Results: the care of the patient with terminal illness causes a change in the life project of the family members, stronger affective bonds are generated but there is a high burden of suffering that is not always expressed by the relatives with the desire to avoid aggravating the already deteriorated state of health of the patient. After passing the crisis stage, the acceptance of the fact comes, and deep limitations, mainly of an economic nature, were also evident. It was observed that the caregivers have alterations in the state of mind which causes sadness, anxiety and different degrees of affection in their physical and psychological health. Conclusions: the incurable disease causes a crisis that is overcome with dialogue and affective ties, however it induces a deterioration in the health and well-being of the members of the family.