Aim: understand the experience of relatives of people who suffered cardiac arrest and died. Method: this is a descriptive, qualitative study that used, respectively, symbolic interactionism and interpretive interactionism as a theoretical and methodological reference. Data were collected through a semi-structured interview at the household of 11 relatives, from November 2015 to June 2016. Results: the analysis of the narratives evidenced several feelings such as anger, anxiety and hope. Two epiphanies were identified. The first epiphany, discovering that the relative died, had as categories: experiencing the moment of the CRA and receiving the news. In the second epiphany, coexisting with the immediate changes, the following categories were evidenced: remembering and feeling the pain of loss and changes after the death of the relative. Conclusion: the interactionist perspective made it possible to better understand the experience of relatives in waiting for the attendance of cardiorespiratory arrest and the subsequent reception of the news of death of their loved one.
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