Revealing the process of dying in adolescence: the nursing team´s point of view

Abstract

To follow the process of dying in adolescence is out of all the standards of life, even for the health team that deals routinely with such reality. In this context, the study had as objective to understand the meaning of the dying process in adolescence according to the nursing team’s point of view. The methodological reference used in this research was the phenomenology and the subjects were six techniques and four nurses. The results evidenced four categories. By seeing an adolescent dying, the professionals: experience impotence; fi nds support in the belief; play the role of a relative and express diffi culties in accepting the adolescent´s death. The conclusion is that the nursing professionals, facing the reality of the adolescents´ death, experience existential questions. There is need for innovation from the discussions and refl ections about care of being adolescent facing death and at dying. It is fundamental that the nursing team seizes this subject, getting prepared technically and emotionally to look after the human being in full.