Abstract
ABSTRACT Objective: to understand the perception on hospital pedagogy of family caregivers of pediatric cancer patients in the Department of Córdoba, Colombia. Method: a qualitative study with an ethnographic approach whose results were obtained through interviews, participant observation and focus groups with 25 family caregivers enrolled in the database of the UNICOS, Volunteer School Support Program, of the University of Córdoba. Data was collected between February and June 2017, coded and organized in three axes: conceptions of hospital pedagogy, activities and didactics and values of the hospital pedagogue; and analyzed under the technique of multiple triangulation. Results: all caregivers belong to the female gender, between 20-40 years old, incomplete high school level, in a consensual union and unemployed; pedagogy is conceived as an act of love that is limited by the lack of adequate spaces and materials; the graphic-plastic activities and the interactive didactics that include music, directed readings and videos are the children's biggest preferences; in addition, the hospital pedagogue is conceived as a special person, with human warmth, sympathy and listening skills. Conclusion: hospital pedagogy is a strategy that allows coping with the disease, recognition of children and caregivers as subjects of rights and opportunities, and consolidation of inter-sectorial and interdisciplinary work for the development of the child's health.
Highlights
The World Health Organization[1] says that childhood cancer represents between 0.5% and 4.6% of the total burden of morbidity related to this cause, whose incidence rate ranges between 50 and 200 per million children in the world placing it in the rare category if compared to cancer in adults
The family caregivers participating in this study relate the hospital pedagogy with love and maintained a positive attitude towards the training process that provoked exchanges of emotions, displays of affection and respect among the participants, in this regard, Martha adds: teaching in these conditions is a pure act of love
Pedagogy contains a multisciplinary profile that transcends the schemes of didactic act planning to enhance human feelings and emotions in inclusive environments, as mentioned by Lucia: sick children should not be excluded from school, on the contrary, they should be taught so that they learn to excel as people and that they feel loved by everyone
Summary
The World Health Organization[1] says that childhood cancer represents between 0.5% and 4.6% of the total burden of morbidity related to this cause, whose incidence rate ranges between 50 and 200 per million children in the world placing it in the rare category if compared to cancer in adults. The family caregiver requires the participation of other social actors to generate suitable environments where networks of trust, solidarity and cooperation are established to increase the potential of the subject of care facing the disease, so there is no discussion when affirming that the school has certain attributes that benefit children’s social learning process, but the temporary, formal and face-to-face conditions that characterize it limit the enjoyment of said benefits by the child in sickness conditions In this direction, the United Nation Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)[2] suggests that schools should become networks of learning spaces where the synergy between the informal and the formal takes place aiming to offer opportunities and reconciling all possible educational environments that promote the humanistic inclusion of all people regardless of ethnicity, age, gender or health condition. It is essential to keep in mind that there is no predetermined path to develop an educational program, but what is certainly known is that long hospital stays have psychosocial effects on patients ranging from lack of motivation, anxiety states and anguish,[6] deterioration of self-esteem, sleep disturbances, concern with the unknown, sadness, apathy, disinterest in the activities of childhood and rupture of the child with their natural environment.[7,8]
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