Homecare of children under chemotherapy from the perspective of the family caregiver.

Abstract

Being a chronic disease, cancer in children is a progressive disease that imposes changes in the life of the children and their families, requiring adaptations and strategies to face the new situation. This qualitative study aimed at understanding how family caregivers experience home care of children under chemotherapy. This article discusses the case of a caregiver of a child with cancer cared at the daycare of the service of oncology-hematology of a public pediatric general hospital in Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil. Data were collected through interviews and home visits, in August, 2006, and analyzed based on Sociological Phenomenology. Results showed that the home care of children with cancer requires from the caregiver new responsibilities, causes sudden changes in their habits, it is based on love, and understood as a gratifying action.