Family care providers of neurologically affected patients

Abstract

This is a qualitative exploratory research that aimed to identify and learn the meaning of being a family care provider of a neurologically affected patient. Twenty-one family care providers of both sexes were interviewed at the clinical hospital of University Vale do Sapucaí and at their homes. Data collection was carried out through semi-structured interviews, which were recorded and transcribed. The methodological guidelines of the Collective Subject Discourse were used to select the central ideas and corresponding key expressions, from which the care providers' discourses were extracted. The following representations were identified about the event of being a care provider: "to provide care", "affection and responsibility", "act of love", "mission and vocation", "obligation" and "difficulty". In this study, the positive and negative senses inherent in the task of family care provider were confirmed.