Resumen

APOSTOLO, João; ANTUNES, Maria; MENDES, Aida  y  CASTRO, Inês. Conforto/Desconforto em Doentes Internados em Clínica Psiquiátrica. Revista Portuguesa de Enfermagem de Saúde Mental [online]. 2012, n.7, pp.33-38. ISSN 1647-2160.

In accordance with Kolcaba (1991; 2003) we considered comfort as a state in which the basic human needs of relief, tranquility and transcendence are met in the four contexts of experience - physical, "psychospiritual", sociocultural and environmental - and verified that psychiatric inpatients experience discomfort related to the symptoms that result from their illness and from hospitalization. Aim: To describe the characteristics of comfort/discomfort of inpatients in clinical psychiatric facilities. Method: Descriptive study using the Psychiatric Inpatients Comfort Scale (PICS), 5 point Likert type, based on the conceptual structure of Kolcaba (2003). Sample: 393 individuals, 215 women and 178 men, mean age 41.26; SD 13.36. Previous studies have demonstrated the psychometric properties of PICS (Apóstolo et al., 2007). For the sample under analysis Cronbach’s alfa of the total scale is 0.91. Results: In the total scale 27.48% of patients experience a high or moderate level of discomfort. The dimensions transcendence and "psychospiritual" were the ones in which patients referred higher discomfort with, respectively, 46.05% and 41.47%. Conclusion: Patients feel greater discomfort relating to the conscience of self, meaning of life, self-esteem, self-concept, as well as the potential to make plans, control one’s destiny and solve one’s problems. There are previous results from qualitative studies (Apóstolo, 2009; 2010) that support this evidence having shown that patients feel imprisoned in their illness and limited in the development of their life project. In this way, interventions ought to be oriented towards these aspects.

Palabras clave : Comfort; assessment; psychiatry; hospital.

        · resumen en Portugués     · texto en Portugués     · Portugués ( pdf )