Children and adolescents with chronic kidney disease in an educational-therapeutic environment: support for cultural nursing care

Abstract

This qualitative study was performed using an ethnographic approach, with the objective to understand how children and adolescents with chronic kidney disease experience their disease and treatment, and describe the educational-therapeutic care from the perspective of transcultural nursing. Participants were eleven subjects undergoing dialysis treatment. The study phases followed the observation-participation-reflection model, complemented by interviews. The analysis was guided by the four phases of the ethnonursing guide, revealing the following categories: living with kidney failure and changes in everyday life; and the hospital environment and educational-therapeutic activities, which show the discomforts and difficulties that impact several dimensions of life, somewhat compensated by the therapeutic environment and the opportunity for leisure. Culturally consistent care was understood as an intentional intervention constructed by the interaction between scientific knowledge and the valorization of the cultural knowledge of children and adolescents and their families.