SPIRITUALITY AND RELIGIOSITY IN MOTHERS OF CHILDREN WITH HEMATOLOGIC CANCER

• Main Authors: Iara Silva Freitas, erika arantes de Oliveira Cardoso, Manoel Antônio Santos
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade Estadual de Maringá 2017-09-01
• Series: Psicologia em Estudo
• Subjects: Espiritualidade; família; transplante de medula óssea; psicologia fenomenológica.
• Online Access: http://periodicos.uem.br/ojs/index.php/PsicolEstud/article/view/34606

Spirituality and religiosity are important sources of emotional and social support for families of severely ill children, specially when it comes to potentially terminal illnesses. Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is one of the most daring and promising alternatives that have emerged in the last decades to treat onco-hematological diseases. It is a highly invasive procedure and involves risk of death due to its adverse effects, therefore, it requires close involvement of a family caregiver during all of its stages, which exposes this family member to continuous stressors. The goal of this study was to investigate the meaning attributed to spirituality and religiosity by mothers of hematologic cancer patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. This is a qualitative research, with a descriptive-exploratory design and a phenomenological fundamentation. Ten mothers whose children had undergone hematopoietic stem cell tranplantation were interviewed. Individual interviews were audio-taped and later transcribed and subjected to the comprehensive analysis of the reports. Spirituality and religiosity emerged from the speeches of the participants colored by different professed religious beliefs as a source of support and encouragement for family caregivers, helping them to deal with the adverse situation of being companion of a patient undergoing a high-risk procedure. Results corroborated that spirituality and religiosity are important coping resources.