Perspectivas de pacientes hospitalizados e a prática de psicólogos hospitalares durante a pandemia de Covid-19

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic has had impacts in several areas since it was declared in 2020. In Brazil, during that year, all regions of the country had high numbers of hospitalizations, recording high mortality rates. In social crises, in which the Covid-19 pandemic fits, the need for care with the mental health of the population tends to intensify, it is possible to perceive several psychological reactions presented by the population in general. In this scenario, hospitals occupy a prominent place, since they offer highly complex services, providing multidisciplinary teams that provide comprehensive care to hospitalized users. The general objective of this research was to understand how hospital psychologists structure their practices and how patients, without the diagnosis of Covid-19, perceived hospitalization during the pandemic. This is a qualitative-descriptive research, which considered social constructionism as a methodological contribution. The research was divided into two independent studies. In study 01, the objective was to describe the perspective of patients, without a diagnosis of Covid-19, on the hospitalization experience during the pandemic. In study 02, the objective was to understand how hospital psychologists experienced, felt and structured their practices during the Covid-19 pandemic. In study 01, 10 patients, who were hospitalized in a public university hospital located in Minas Gerais, between March and December and 2021, without the diagnosis of Covid-19, participated in the data collection, with the help of a semi-structured script. structured, the interviews were transcribed in full, read in a fluctuating, exhaustive and curious way. The results enabled the construction of the themes: repercussions of hospitalization, in which the feelings perceived by patients during hospitalization were presented, as well as the coping strategies adopted and social support received during hospitalization and the hospital as a place of care, in which the importance of the care provided by the team and the hospital institution facing the needs of patients was presented. In study 02, 09 hospital psychologists, who worked during the Covid-19 pandemic in a public university hospital participated, the interviews took place with the help of a semi-structured script and images by Frida Kahlo, analyzed anchored in social constructionism and arts-based research as a methodological contribution. The results show that the participants experienced feelings such as uncertainty, fear and a feeling of not belonging to the institution. In addition, they verbalized that some care actions needed to be readapted during this period. The research revealed that some feelings such as fear and insecurity intensified in the face of hospitalization in the pandemic, as well as showing how spirituality/religiosity and the care offered by professionals were crucial for coping with hospitalization. Concomitant with this, it made it possible to understand how psychologists hospitals began to realize the personal crossings caused by the pandemic and how they reorganized practices such as the active search for patients and the follow-up of visits, given the new context.