Atenção domiciliar na estratégia saúde da família: análise das perspectivas de idosos, cuidadores e profissionais

Abstract

Home Nursing (HN) is a powerful action to bring about changes in the practice of professionals in the Family Health Strategy (FHS) in order to expand integrality, which has become necessary due to the large number of elderly people and family members/caregivers who do not feel supported by the health system/team. Thus, the aim was to analyze the care offered by the FHS teams in Sobral, Ceará, to the families of elderly people with functional impairment in HN through the perspective of the elderly people, caregivers and professionals. This research has qualitative approach of exploratory nature, the field of research was the territories of the six Family Health Centers within the municipality of Sobral, collection of information was conducted in the September 2014 to March 2015 period. The subjects of the study were twenty-eight professionals from the FHS core team, and sixty-two elderly people who receive HN, the latter including thirteen people who presented dependence on the fulfillment of Activities of Daily Living according to the Katz index and had preserved cognitive function in accordance with The Mini–Mental State Examination (MMSE), in addition to the sixty family members/caregivers. A semi-structured interview and group focus were used for the collection of information. The data analysis proposal chosen was theme coding according to Uwe Flick (2009) and the triangulation of methods proposed by Minayo, Assis and Sousa (2005). Ethical guidelines for research involving human subjects were adopted with approval from the State University Vale do Acaraú Research Ethics Committee. Different perceptions and feelings on HN among the subjects involved were observed, in this sense, the relationship between the professional, the elderly person and the family assumes a central role in the whole care process. Another feature was the development of partnerships with the multi-professional team through communication and contribution from the categories for the care plan. Regarding support for the family by the team, a fragile support network was identified, in which the care is only for the elderly person, with a relationship of dependence, where the roles are not well-defined, and a need to strengthen strategies and tools to promote self-sufficiency and joint responsibility.