A willing existence: the care of the mother to the child/adolescent with cerebral palsy

Abstract

To understand the care of the mother to the child/adolescent with cerebral palsy. A qualitative study with a hermeneutical phenomenological approach based on Heidegger and Ricoeur. It was developed with ten mothers of child/adolescent with cerebral palsy who attend an Association of Parents and Friends of Special of a city located in the north of the State of Rio Grande do Sul/Brazil. The information was collected through the phenomenological interview, from April to June 2015 and was interpreted with the hermeneutics of Ricoeur. The results showed that the mother of the child/adolescent with cerebral palsy reorganized her life in order to dedicate herself exclusively to the care of the child, offering her the maximum of existential possibilities. The being-in-the-world of these mothers is to be-with the child in a bond so intense that the mother in many moments is understood as part of the corporality of the son. Due to the range of complex care that the mother dedicates to the child/adolescent with cerebral palsy, it is necessary that the health professionals, especially the nurse, put themselves in the presence of the mother, and taking care of it as a way of being in care.

Keywords

• cerebral palsy
• child care
• adolescent health
• mothers
• hermeneutics