Relative caregiver experience facing the death of a child with cancer
Abstract
The objective of this study is to describe the relative caregiver’s experience when facing the death of a child with cancer. With this purpose, the Colaizzi's descriptive phenomenological method was used in a qualitative study including 18 participants meeting the inclusion criteria of being parent to a child with cancer who died in a period from 5 months to 5 years. In-depth interviews were performed until reaching theoretical saturation. As a result, 6 topics describing the caregivers experience were found: idealization of the sick child, perpetual battle, unbreakable bond, loss of sense, get up and move on, and spiritual struggle; representing the perception and experience of caregivers in mourning. It was concluded that expressions of pain, uncertainty and emptiness are feelings and sensations described by the caregivers, which are part of the mourning process, but also describe their movement to acceptance and transcendence, where they give importance to the spiritual being of the child as the way to believe cheats still next to them.
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References
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