Percepción del cuidador familiar acerca de la práctica del cuidado

Abstract

The family caregiver of a dependent older adult faces complex situations that can impair his or her health. The physical and emotional wear and tear becomes increasingly evident if you are not able to apply certain strategies or to engage other family members. The purpose of the research was to assess the family caregiver’s perception of the practice of caring for the elderly. It is a qualitative research based on phenomenology and social representations as methods of inquiry, and assumed in the social actions that produced 23 family caregivers as target population. The information was obtained through in-depth interviews with a questionnaire of semi-structured questions, following what was described by Martinez Migueles and under the theory of Social Representations. The results obtained show that the meaning of care in the family caregiver, is built through contributions, scope, care, recognition and attitudes performed with the older adult, so it is necessary to understand that caring involves and shares the human experience through a transpersonal relationship and respect, aspects that serve to improve the processes of care in any health situation that the person has. In conclusion, the family caregiver has a satisfactory perception about care and social representation is formed from the activities that the caregiver makes intelligible.