Abstract

BALTAZAR, Danielle Vargas; GOMES, Rafaela Ferreira de Souza  and  SEGAL, Viviane Lajter. Forging bonds and enabling grieving at a neonatal intensive care unit. Rev. SBPH [online]. 2014, vol.17, n.1, pp. 88-98. ISSN 1516-0858.

This article is a professional experience report which makes it possible to reflect on the work done between 2007 and 2013 by the psychology team at the neonatal intensive care unit at Bonsucesso Federal Hospital. It constitutes a critical analysis of the psychological work carried out at a unit for newborns with urgent, critical healthcare needs, marked by the use of high technology and the need for precision in all actions taken. It is a place of comings and goings, where the possibility of a newborn's death is a constant in their parents' lives. The reflections in the analysis encompass the possibility of parents bonding with their newborns, and the experience of grieving inherent to this context, which must be worked through by the parents. Based on the analysis, it is proposed that a place be made available for parents to be received and to talk as they deal with the reality of having a premature baby and in some cases imminent death. We stress that being heard by a psychologist enables these issues to be worked through verbally, providing a channel for parents to bond with their children, face the hospitalization situation, and open to the work of grieving.

Keywords : grieving; parents and children; bonding; neonatology.

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