Regulação emocional e conjugalidade: vivência de pais com filhos internados em Unidade de Terapia Intensiva

Abstract

The diagnosis of serious illnesses and a child's hospitalization can be a stressful event for the entire family. The objective of this study was to evaluate the cognitive emotion regulation (CER) strategies used by parents of patients with a heart disease admitted to a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and investigate the implications of the illness and hospitalization on their conjugality. From a qualitative research perspective, data was collected from five pairs of parents of patients with a heart disease admitted to the Pediatric ICU. A Sociodemographic Questionnaire, the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ) and a Semi-Structured Interview were applied individually. The data obtained was analyzed by Content Analysis. Among the results concerning CER strategies, we highlight the results regarding the fathers, who show a tendency to silence their fears related to the child, as well as not sharing negative emotions with their peers, with the idea that they were better prepared to deal with the situation. Regarding the repercussions of hospitalization, there was no consensus: some of them perceived the couple as more united, others did not notice any changes, and others describe the impact of physical detachment. However, even when adverse, the impact of hospitalization on conjugality is not the primary concern, and therefore the parents' concerns have shown to be related to their child's health. Keywords: emotional regulation; confrontation; conjugality.