[Terminal patient home care: the family caregivers perspective]. / Internação domiciliar do paciente terminal: o olhar do cuidador familiar.

ABSTRACT

This study was aimed at getting to know the relationships built among patients, family caregivers and the health care team, during home care,from the perspective of the family caregiver It is a qualitative study with 11 family caregivers of terminal patients, registered on a home care service of a university hospital in the South of Brazil. Data collection was carried out through narrative interviews that were recorded transcribed and analyzed through content analysis. Three categories were built from data analysis: relationships among the family caregiver, the patient and the health care team; awareness of the patient's terminal condition. the caregiver's perspective; and situation in which patients are unaware of their terminal condition. They approach how the home care relationships are established among the caregivers, such as health care professionals and family caregivers, and the people who are taken care of such as the patients, highlighting the importance of communication in such care related context.