Luto em mulheres adultas : uma pesquisa-intervenção em um contexto de saúde pública.

Abstract

Grief is a personal experience that arises in response to loss and affects the emotional dimension by awakening feelings such as sadness, anguish, and anger. It also impacts cognitive functioning, modifying the individual's conception of the world around them. In the care provided to bereaved adult women at the Dr. Claudionor Batista de Oliveira Specialty Center in Bahia, it is observed that many of them manifest reactions characteristic of the grieving process, expressed by intense emotional reactions, symptoms of anxiety, fear of death and new losses, racing thoughts, rumination, excessive worries, and avoidance behaviors. In this sense, this research aimed to understand the process of coping with grief and the adaptation strategies for accepting this experience. As a methodological resource, this is a qualitative and exploratory intervention research, carried out through group meetings in the focus group modality. Content analysis allowed the construction of five thematic categories: impacts of grief, thought patterns, coping strategies, psychological mechanisms, and emotional support. The findings indicated the presence of dysfunctional coping strategies, such as isolation, avoidance, and avoidance of stimuli associated with the loss, as well as functional strategies, such as emotional expression, seeking family, social, and community support, engaging in meaningful activities, recalling positive memories, accepting the loss, and adapting to the new reality. As a technical product, the booklet "Understanding Grief: A Guide to Emotional Support on the Grief Process," intended for bereaved women and healthcare professionals, was developed based on the needs identified during the intervention research. This research is part of the Social Practices, Organizations, and Culture research line of the Postgraduate Program in Psychology at the University of Santa Cruz do Sul (UNISC) – Professional Master's degree.