O sentido da vida e o familiar cuidador da pessoa idosa com Alzheimer

Abstract

In the last few years, the number of families that have been confronted with the situation of having to take care of senior family members in conditions of dependence have been increasing progressively, especially when it is caused by dementia due to Alzheimer's Disease. Thus, researches that aim to deepen their results become relevant to the understanding of the theme. The present conclusion of course work has as a general goal to identify possible contributions about the meaning of life regarding the caregiver relative of the Alzheimer's Disease patient. The research proposes the following specific objectives: To characterize the phase of senior age, to conceptualize Alzheimer's Disease, to characterize the psychosocial impacts on the family caregiver's life and to conceptualize the meaning of life, according to Logotherapy. The method used was a qualitative design with an exploratory and interpretative character. The Alzheimer's Disease cultural artifact in the periphery was used as the source, in which some scenes were extracted and described, based on the objectives of the research. The instrument used was a table, and through it, the scenes of the cultural artifact were classified. The analysis framework used was the content analysis proposed by Laville and Dionne, in which the categories were defined a posteriori, using the open model. The data were interpreted qualitatively, using the matching strategy. The categories created and their respective units of analysis were: 1. Alzheimer's Disease - Cognitive decline and loss of autonomy; 2. Caregiver Relative - Impacts of the disease on the caregiver and Dependency; 3. Sense of Life - Tragedy, value of attitude and value of experience. Results: Through the analysis of the scenes of the referred documentary and the pairing with the theory it was possible to observe that Alzheimer's disease impacts in different ways on the caregiver relative's life and that before the suffering that they often manage to find a sense of life and concomitant to continue taking care of this elderly person. Even knowing that the disease is progressive and that there is no cure, the family caregiver abdicates their lives and their needs to dedicate themselves fully to the care of the elderly with Alzheimer's. Thus, the chosen artifact was fundamental to identify the contributions of the meaning of life in the family caregiver of the elderly person with Alzheimer's. [resumo fornecido pelo autor]