NEEDS AND SOCIAL SUPPORT FOR PATIENTS RELATIVES IN PALLIATIVE CARE AT INTENSIVE CARE UNIT
Palliative care; Intensive Care Unit; family; social support.
Palliative Care are actions that aim to ease unpleasant symptoms, caused by a disease but also for treatment. They aim to improve the quality of life of patients, including family care and community. In the hospital context, the Intensive Care Unit is one of the environments where PC can also occur with the family as the object of intervention, study and psychological research. When it comes to patients in PC situation or context in which the prospect of recovery is very small, the care is of utmost importance, since family members have specific needs and have emotional changes during the monitoring of ICU. Moreover, in the context of family care of patients under palliative care arises the importance of verifying the presence of social support in facing this reality. The literature points to social support as protection that protects the individual from risks caused by pathological crises, being essential for the promotion of health. The objective was to investigate the needs and perceptions of social support in the relatives of patients in Palliative Care in the Intensive Care Unit. This is a quantitative, exploratory and cross-sectional study with 52 relatives of a private hospital in Natal. We used a sociodemographic questionnaire, Inventory of Needs and Stressors of Families in Intensive Care and Social Support Scale. The analysis was based on descriptive and inferential statistics, in addition to the use of statistical data processing software. The results suggest satisfactory social support, with statistical significance to the affective dimension, and point out significant associations between items of this support and variables such as higher family income with retired participants. The presence of needs was related to the dimensions of information and security. Evidence points to the presence of a significant relationship between these items and aspects related to age, schooling, family income, with special attention to interventions with the family of patients in PC and their network of relationships, represented here by the family and health team. It is advisable to develop strategies that meet the needs of this group.