TAKING CARE OF THE SICK ELDER PEOPLE AT HOME IN THE SPEECH OF FAMILIAL CARE TAKER

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This investigation is about an exploratory, descriptive and in a qualitative approach study, which had as its objective to know how the choice of the sick elderly people’s familial caretaker occurs and how the caretaker feels in this role. The main caretaker was interviewed in home visits. The sample was constituted of nine familial caretakers, mainly from the female sex: wives, daughters, daughters-in-law, granddaughters, and the husband. For the analysis of the data, the content analysis, following the methodological steps of Minayo, was used. Two analytical categories were elaborated: being a familial caretaker: is it an option or an obligation?, which shows that the choice of taking care is closely related to the feeling of obligation, but also to affection relations, gratitude and the impossibility of choosing another caretaker, and being a sick elderly people’s familial caretaker that approaches feelings of gratitude, resignation, inexperience in face of the care demands, physical and emotional tiredness, loss of freedom and solitude due to the activity in the caretaker. KEYWORDS : Family; Familial Caretaker; Elderly; Dependence.