Resiliência em oncologia : um olhar sobre a práxis do enfermeiro

Abstract

The object of this study is nurses resilience in the care of cancer patients. Its goals were: identifying risks and protection factors involved in the process of care by oncology nurses and examining aspects of nurses resilience under stress when assisting cancer patients. As a theoretical framework, a deep literature review was conducted on the concepts of resilience and an overview on cancer. Descriptive-exploratory qualitative/quantitative research was carried out with nurses in a major public hospital in Porto Alegre, Brazil, after approval by ethics committees at PUC/RS and the hospital in question. The subject were 37 nurses who responded to the Resilience Scale put forward by Wagnild e Young (1993). Eight of them responded to the semi-structured interview between August and September, 2011. Data content analysis pointed out three categories: The nurse in the oncology scenario; Nurses feeling in the oncology work; and Finding resilience in the oncology scenario: protection factors for nurses. It was found that in the scenario studied, most nurses presented resilience aspects resulting from positive strategies found and created by their everyday activities and by their work practice, by protection factors developed in face of adverse situations to which they are exposed. But there are still professionals with low resilience, which demands strategies to fight stress and to promote protection factors, essential to improve care given to cancer patients and beneficial to workers health.