Care in the rare illness situation: family experience and problem-solving capacity of health services

Abstract

Understanding the family experience in the care of a rare syndrome child and their search for support from the health services and professionals. Comprehensive study developed on the nuclear family formed by Pedro and Jessica, Theo’s parents, a child who was born with rare and neurodegenerative syndrome. The methodological strategies included the Life History operationalized by In-depth Interview and Observation. The fieldwork was performed from June/2015 to January/2016 and the empirical material was compiled in a Research Journal. Performing an attentive reading, we assigned a different color to the meanings of the narrated excerpts. The matrix research which this study is linked has ethical approval under the number 951101/CEP-HUJM/2015. The family solicitude is careful and integrative, focusing on Theo’s well-being and development, as possible. This integrative perspective is different from the one held by the health services and professionals that offer strictly specific responses to the momentary demands. To increase the response capacity, services and health professionals need to set in motion different notions of time and temporality, in order to reconsider the protocol and rigidly formalized times in an effort to cover the living temporality and the children care, including children with other normalities.