Parents with hospitalized children receive emotional support in USP project

Going through a hospital stay is never an easy situation, let alone for a child or teenager. Many uncertainties, fear and insecurity emerge and these feelings affect not only young people but also the parents or relatives who accompany them. The guardians of the child charge themselves all the time, even when they are unable to help.

Coordinated by Professor Lucila Castanheira Nascimento, the project of the Ribeirão Preto School of Nursing (EERP) at USP Integrating Family Members and Companions in Pediatric Nursing: An Action Proposal was created precisely with the intention of assisting parents and companions in this delicate moment. Since its creation in 2003, the project aims to involve these companions in the hospital, inviting them to talk to others in the same situation, exchange experiences and think about themselves for a while.

These activities are developed by scholarship students and volunteers who not only encourage the companion to participate, but offer emotional support by making the young person or child themselves company, so that parents feel safer leaving their children. and participate in events prepared by project members. There are conversations, games, guidance and financial advice, among other activities. Mothers, for example, says professor Lucila, can win a day of beauty. All of these activities are organized so that the companions can take a break, away from the excessive responsibility they feel for the child’s safety.