Plantas medicinais utilizadas na autoatenção por pessoas com câncer em cuidado paliativo

Abstract

It is observed that population usually uses in their daily practice some care such as the use of medicinal plants. People with cancer in palliative care also use care practices mainly related to treatment of cancer symptoms or even seek new alternatives for cancer cure. Thus, this study aimed to know the medicinal plants used by people with cancer in palliative care and by their caregivers. It was a qualitative, exploratory and descriptive research. The research was carried out in Pelotas-RS, at home of the people accompanied by the Oncology Intervention Program (PIDI) of Hospital Escola, a subsidiary of Brazilian Hospital Services Company (HEUFPEL / EBSERH). Twenty people with cancer in palliative care and 14 caregivers, in behalf of subjects involved in this research, participated of this study totalizing 34 participants. The research project was approved by the Ethics and Research Committee of the Faculty of Nursing of UFPEL, under No. 2,680,119. In order to ensure the anonymity of the interlocutors, these were identified by fictitious names, chosen by them, followed by age. The research was conducted from June to September 2018, through subject‘s observation, photographic record, semi-structured recorded interview and as well as records in field diaries. The organization of information, with the transcription of interviews and the preparation of the field diary, took place during the period of data collection. All interviews were categorized into an Excel file for analysis. Among 20 people with cancer in palliative care, 14 were male and with age varying from 26 to 89 years. From 14 caregivers, all were female aged from 32 to 82 years. In relation to family relationship, 12 caregivers were relatives of people with cancer, most of them wives. The perception of people with cancer in palliative care about what is health and what is illness, many of them affirmed that health is "everything" in their lives, it is feeling "well", being "happy", "in harmony with body and mind‖ and being the ―good state of spirit, body and soul". The disease description by several participants was ―something very bad‖, mainly because disease limiting the execution of daily tasks which they performed before cancer complications. All people with cancer in palliative care used herbal medicines before becoming ill and continued their use after that. During the data collection, a large variety of medicinal plants were cited, both in genus and in species, totalizing 103 plants. Some participants used new medicinal plants in their care practice, such as plants to extinguish or reduce malignant cells, while others continued using the same plants that they had used prior to their illness to treat cancer symptoms. 17 medicinal plants were cited for symptoms relief caused by cancer and 13 plants were referred for cancer cure and reduction of metastases. In addition, the participants used different knowledge and care forms for health care, with medicinal plants being the integrative and complementary practice most used in the studied context both for the treatment of symptoms and for the intention of curing the disease. People with cancer in palliative care have knowledge about the use of medicinal plants in health care, and many of them are scientifically confirmed by pharmacological studies.