Unveiling the sense of limit of relatives living with a member in need of physical care

Abstract

Illness and a person's dependence affect the life of a family, provoking alterations in roles and responsibilities, producing changes in the personal routine and in the relationship of the group. This study has the purpose to present characteristics of the sense of limit, with its theatrical and tragic aspects, which participate or are present in the dynamics of daily relationships of relatives that live with one of their members depending on physical care. We worked with a qualitative approach research according to Michel Maffesoli's theoretical-methodological referential, which uses the formism as a methodological lever. Data was collected in the four families’ homes, from July to December of 2004, using the interview technique and focal group. The results revealed that the sense of limit, stimulated by the presence of an illness in a daily life, promotes the manifestation of diversified feelings and changes in the routine and daily habits. On the other hand, the caring demanded by the tragicalness of the illness propitiates a family union. All the actions taken to confront the physical, emotional and social impositions that emerge from the tragicalness, and exhibit the theatricality lived daily, show the desire for changes and the resistance to the impositions, searching for the hedonism.