Os cuidados paliativos em atenção domiciliar: a vivência de profissionais de saúde

Abstract

This dissertation investigates the experiences of healthcare professionals who provide palliative care within Home Care Services (Atenção Domiciliar – AD), specifically in the “Melhor em Casa” Program in Uberlândia, Brazil. Based on a qualitative approach, the study employed Content Analysis to examine perceptions, emotional impacts, challenges, and strategies of professionals working with patients living with irreversible and progressive diseases. The research reviews the historical development of palliative care, its ethical and bioethical foundations, and its implementation in Brazil, highlighting home care as a setting that enables comprehensive, humanized, and interdisciplinary assistance. The findings reveal that professionals face intense emotional demands involving end-of-life situations, suffering, and grief, along with organizational and structural challenges inherent to home-based care. They also emphasize the importance of interpersonal bonding, sensitive communication, and interdisciplinary collaboration for high-quality palliative care at home. The study concludes that palliative care within home services requires continuous training, institutional support, and protected spaces for emotional expression among workers, fostering ethical, humanized, and integral care practices.