Taking Care of the Caregiver: Student's Perceptions on Extension Project

Resumen

We aim to know the perception of nursing and occupational therapy students towards the feelings triggered during the Extension Project: “Looking at the caregiver: who cares deserves to be cared for”. This is an experience report produced from the Project developed from June 2015 to December 2016, which carries out four meetings with family caregivers of patients from the Better at Home Program and the Interdisciplinary Home Care Program. Data was collected from the caregivers’ reports in January 2017 and thematically approximated. Four categories emerged, which comprehend the students’ perceptions that presented feelings or similar situations: Perceptions on bonding with family caregivers; Feelings experienced by students when taking care of the caregivers; the student’s viewpoint on the family caregiver; and Knowledge beyond the undergrad school. The appearance of diverse feelings is common in the students’ reports, especially the ones that pity or worry with the situation experienced by the caregiver. We concluded that the bonding produced with the caregivers through care delivery shows the relevance of the extension project in the students’ degree, which allows the maintenance of issues already seen in the course.