A história infantil como recurso na compreensão do processo saúde-doença pela criança com HIV

Abstract

This study analyzed how a story for children related to AIDS contributed to the understanding of the health-disease process of children with HIV. It was conducted at the Pediatric Clinic in Porto Alegre/RS from May to December 2011. The participants were five children aged between seven and nine years and their caregivers. The data were collected by a focal group through interviews and submitted to thematic content analysis. Two categories were found: identification with the story, relationship with the health-disease process, understanding of the story, and the health-disease process. The results demonstrated that stories for children are resources to talk about the health-disease process with children without revealing the diagnosis, leading them to understand their situation and the importance of treatment. We considered that this resource may be a strategy to help the caregivers and health professionals to initiate the process of revelation of diagnosis.

Revelação do diagnóstico de HIV para crianças e adolescentes: subsídios para prática assistencial

“…An honest dialogue between the child or adolescent and their caretaker allows them to reveal it to them, but later, another, a more adult explanation, can be carried out (6) .…”

“…Through the answers, the diagnostic is slowly revealed (6) . The health professionals indicated that the reveal should happen the earliest possible, and that it should consider the cognitive maturity of the child or adolescent and their family and social structure, changing from case to case and independent of age.…”

“…The eminence of the beginning of sexual life, aroused by adolescence, becomes a factor that precipitates disclosure. The caregivers worry about the possibility of the adolescent infecting other people during unprotected sexual relationships (6) . The disclosure was used by the family members as a way to control the behavior of the adolescent regarding sexuality, since they can, from the moment they know about the diagnosis, take better care of themselves and prevent the transmission of the virus (7) .…”

“…It is possible to count with strategies such as dialogue, playful stories, staging, videos, among others, developed both by family members and professionals. This process is not finished once the information is given; it also includes a monitoring of the developments generated (6) . To do so, professionals must deal with situations that extrapolate the clinic.…”

Playful intervention with chronically-ill children: promoting coping

“…(7) Sources of children's literature can serve as an aid to address diagnosis and treatment, and for health education action. (8) This study used a health care manual targeting hospitalized children and adolescents titled "Como hós-pede no hospital" (As a patient in the hospital), containing interactive activities and tasks that involve thinking, writing, drawing, coloring, sentence completion, and the creation of stories. The manual was proposed in order to facilitate children's expression of feelings about their illness and hospitalization, to aid their acquisition of knowledge of hospital routines and specifi c situations related to hospitalization, and to promote the adoption of more eff ective coping strategies to their situation.…”