Caring for caregivers: encouraging intervention activities as a learning strategy in medical internship

Abstract

Introduction: This work describes the experience of structuring a therapeutic group with informal caregivers who showed signs of overload and who worked providing care to bedridden people followed through home visits by the health team of the Family Health Strategy (FHS). Experience Report: The group was structured and developed by two students of the Internship period of the medical course during the rotation in Family and Community Medicine (FCM) together with the second-year resident physician of the Specialization Program in FCM, the preceptor of the Program, and the team nurse at the Josefa de Souza Silva school unit, Pedra Linda neighborhood, in Petrolina, state of Pernambuco, based on the identification of a problem in the community and as part of the intervention project. Discussion: Seven weekly meetings were held with twelve caregivers, from May to July 2019. Each meeting was divided into welcoming activities, presentation of the day’s proposal with the experience of a self-care practice and ended with the suggestion of a home activity, to be developed until the next meeting. For the development of activities, the community approach and resources such as Popular Education and Integrative and Complementary Practices in Health were used. Conclusion: The reduction of stress and overload on caregivers was observed, from the practice of self-care and the strengthening of support networks in the community. At the same time, the potential of the intervention project was perceived as a learning strategy in the process of medical training in the FHS: the students were able to experience the establishment of the doctor-patient relationship, the use of light technologies for care, the coordination of a therapeutic group, understanding the meaning of equity, integrality and longitudinality in the practice of FCM, recognizing themselves as caregivers and the importance of taking care of themselves to take care of others.