Experiences of hospitalized elderly’s family caregivers: visibility to the invisible

Abstract

This study was based on Merleau-Ponty phenomenology, and aimed to reveal experiences of family caregivers monitoring hospitalized elderly. It was performed in a hospital in Bahia, Brazil, in 2014, with five participants, who were analyzed through conversation circles, in hospital sectors where elderly assistance flow is greater. Experiential descriptions were recorded, transcribed and submitted to analytical ambiguity. The understanding of experiences resulted in the category ‘visible and invisible in care space’. This paper showed that family caregivers experience ambiguous suffering, classified into three dimensions: coexistence of accompanying family and elderly hospitalized; legal and moral duty in hospitalized elderly care; and (dis)regard of hospital service. Family member’s “visibility”, beyond elderly care, demands of multidisciplinary health team the redefinition of family in the hospital space, considering the logic of building intersubjectivity contexts, which will allow the creation of strategies for effectivity and expansion of humanized care.