Representations from the family about child fear and suffering in emergency care: a descriptive study

Abstract

Problem: Inside emergency care units, the hospitalized children report to their relatives certain moments of conflict, which in the end reinforce the culture of fear.  Threatening procedures usually occur due to patient’s complaining; these procedures are mainly associated with the ones in nursing care. It is fundamental to develop strategies aimed to providing assistance to the family in such cases. Aims: To analyze the social representations of the family regarding the psychological suffering of the child hospitalized in an emergency care unit; to characterize the culture of fear in the context as described by the representations of the family, and its development in the young patient; to create an informative booklet with strategies of collaborative reeducation, to minimize the psychological damage to the child. Method: This is a descriptive study, with a qualitative approach, based on the Theory of Social Representations. Free recall and semi-structured interview techniques will be used in this research. The collection of data will occur at the pediatric emergency care unit of a college hospital, having as its subjects the relatives of hospitalized children.