Articles - Revista Brasileira de Enfermagem

ABSTRACT

Objective:

to reflect on nursing care and its epistemology from its historical, theoretical, philosophical, spiritual dimensions and as a social practice.

Method:

discussions originated in the discipline “Epistemology of caring”, from the graduate nursing program of the School of Nursing, Federal University of Minas Gerais, and in critical analysis of nursing literature together with the professional practice of the authors.

Results:

we identified the necessity of developing a critical conscience on health care provision, research, and teaching, as well as on challenges in maintaining high standards of working interpersonal relationships, which has a profound impact on population health.

Conclusion:

we suggest the rescue of integrality, humanization, unity, and spirituality in researches and practices of individual, familiar, and community care, as an advance in incorporating epistemology of caring in nursing.

ABSTRACT

Objective:

to present the concept of needs according to different approaches to discuss the possibility of health care that incorporates a broader view of human vulnerabilities in health services.

Methods:

the arguments are founded on nursing theorists who worked on the construction of frameworks relevant to care, based on needs and on philosophers who show the possibility of identifying the vulnerabilities of human beings, defending art as a therapeutic instrument that can promote health care.

Conclusion:

although care can acquire a new dimension with the introduction of art, according to certain perspectives, philosophical studies on ethics and aesthetics should be resumed to identify human vulnerabilities that can in fact be compensated by sensible understanding of the outer world. To incorporate art in nursing care requires studies from theorists to be recovered, deepening concepts and working on empirical investigations for their adequate use.

ABSTRACT

Objectives:

analyze gender inequalities among Brazilian women in Portugal and in contemporary nursing based on care politicity in the light of gender; disclose oppression of the female produced by the stereotypes that look upon women as natural caregivers; point out politicity to deconstruct gender stereotypes.

Method:

theoretical reflection with narrative review of literature to analyze classic references in the feminist epistemology combined with the care politicity thesis.

Results:

the similarities between the stereotypes of the Brazilian Eves and the Portuguese Maries as either the sexualized or sanctified nurse are inserted in the Jewish-Christian moral genealogy that reaffirms the subservience of the female to the male.

Conclusion:

by attaching priority to care that needs non-care to expand the possibilities of care giving, the theoretical assumption of politicy of care can contribute to subvert the stereotypical images of Brazilian women in Portuguese lands and in contemporary nursing.

ABSTRACT

Objective:

to understand the perception of nursing staff professionals and legal guardians of children and adolescents with cancer regarding Assisted Therapy with dogs.

Method:

qualitative study based on participant observation conducted with 16 participants in a reference hospital of child cancer. We applied an in-depth interview and interpreted the data according to a content analysis technique.

Results:

the practice is admittedly beneficial to participants despite the fact they do not understand its true objectives and therapeutic applications. Participants only associate it with something distracting and entertaining without realizing the occurrence of a more complex process behind it, which comprises changes besides the emotional ones (more easily perceived).

Conclusion:

the perceptions of participants reinforce recommendations that can be applied in the hospital environment, also showing that the therapy in question can become an effective technology to promote the health of children and adolescents with cancer.