Abstract

ALVES, Railda Fernandes; MELO, Myriam; ANDRADE, Samkya  and  SOUSA, Valéria. Knowledge and practices about palliative care for psychologists active at public hospitals. Psic., Saúde & Doenças [online]. 2014, vol.15, n.1, pp.77-95. ISSN 1645-0086.  https://doi.org/10.15309/14psd150108.

The approach of palliative care (PC) in Brazil is still not consolidated. Only in 2001 the Ministry of Health launched the National Program for Humanization of Hospital Care to officiate assists in PC. The number of services dedicated to PC does not cover the demands in the country and health professionals, including psychologists, have difficulty identifying related practices. The objective of this study was to understand the knowledge and practices on the PC of active psychologists at two public hospitals in the city of Campina Grande-PB, Brazil. It was adopted a qualitative and quantitative approach and it was administered a demographic questionnaire and an interview. Reading data was guided by the analysis of enunciation and by descriptive statistics and was demonstrated through the association of meanings trees. The sample comprised 21 psychologists. The results point out an essentially female sample (90.5%), and 95% of the participants have confirmed to have contact with terminal patients. The discourse analysis showed that practice is characterized by the use of psychological techniques, and patient, family and healthcare team assistance. There are difficulties in the relationship with the team. Academic training is deficient. The importance of humanization is recognized, even if it is not practiced as it should. The need to have systematization in PC to guide actions was expressed. The conclusion indicates fragility in the preparation of health professionals to exercise such care. Factor that compromises the assistances of terminal patients and leads to increased suffering that could be avoided.

Keywords : Palliative care; terminal patients; humanization.

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