Entre o maternar e o cuidar: um estudo de caso sobre a atividade do cuidado e seus impactos na saúde mental das mães de filhos com transtornos alimentares

Abstract

The caregiving activity has historically been attributed to women. They are the ones called upon to take care of the home, children, and especially sick family members and children. With the advent of the Health Reform and the deinstitutionalization processes, the family and community network is assigned the care for those who go through situations of psychological suffering and mental disorders, especially eating disorders. However, in this scenario, care is concentrated in one main caregiver, most of whom are women and mothers, who deal with the challenge of caregiving and the fragility of a support network to share care. In view of this, our main objective is to understand how caregiving experiences impact the mental health of women who are mothers of children with eating disorders. The specific objectives are: To analyze how mothers perform caregiving activities; To identify how the care provided to children with eating disorders has an impact on the socioeconomic life of mothers; To understand how the support network for mothers of children with eating disorders works. Regarding the methodology, this research is qualitative in nature, guided by the bibliographic and documentary type, which focuses on a case study, under the theoretical-methodological approach of historical-dialectical materialism. Based on the reflections brought by the research, we perceive the impact on the mental health of mothers who care for children with eating disorders, with the research reporting increased anxiety, anguish and insomnia. With this, we recognize the urgency of demystifying the figure of women as natural caregivers, especially for mothers, in an attempt to deconstruct the model of care imbued by patriarchy and to think about strategies and spaces of care for such women.

Keywords: Motherhood. Family. Care. Eating Disorders.