“Morreu em vida”: o processo de luto do familiar cuidador diante do Alzheimer

Abstract

The aim of this research was to explore how family members who have lived with Alzheimer's disease (AD) experience bereavement. It was categorized as a qualitative exploratory study using field research. The instrument used was a semistructured interview, based on a 7-question script, with 1 (one) participant, over 18 years old, Brazilian, with first-degree relationship to the relative who lived with Alzheimer's disease. To process the data, we used the principle of the Meaning Interpretation Method, anchored in a hermeneutic-dialectic perspective, in order to obtain an analytical description based on the following stages 1) transcribing and typing the recordings of each interview; 2) assigning codes to the interviewees and the people they mentioned; 3) intensive and extensive reading of the transcribed texts. In the end, the central ideas present in the interviewees' narratives in relation to the bereavement process were identified. This study concluded that the bereavement process of the family member of the person with Alzheimer's disease is fundamentally characterized by elements related to the issue of death in life, anticipatory grief, unrecognized grief and denial as a constitutive part of the diagnosis journey. It became clear that this process takes place in a complex, individual and subjective way, from a non-linear or standardized perspective. It is therefore important to promote spaces for listening to and supporting people's experiences of bereavement as a way of expressing their concerns - and in some way - providing relief.