The family of the oncologic child under palliative care: the view of the nursing team

Abstract

The palliative care rendered to the family of the child receiving pediatric oncology treatment comprises several views and knowledge in a shared construction process. Listening to the nursing team regarding its experiences with families may add a new sensitive and competent meaning to the care praxis. This study aimed at learning the experiences and the perceptions of the nursing team regarding the family of the child undergoing palliative care in the Pediatric Oncology Unit of Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre. It is a qualitative, exploratory and descriptive research whose data were collected from fifteen nursing professionals by means of a semi-structured interview and submitted to content analysis. The study allowed understanding that, before the existential facticity of the family when facing the condition of the palliative care of the child, philosophical and existential questions emerge and permeate this unique care process by bringing some concerns which are difficult to face but which, on the other hand, push the team so as not to discourage but, to step forward as a referential to the child and the family Care is closely related to the tie established among the professional, the family and the child what makes the compassion-moved professional to focus his care not only on the biological issue but also to outline the appreciation of life.