Conforto/Desconforto em Doentes Internados em Clínica Psiquiátrica

Abstract

In accordance with Kolcaba (1991; 2003) we considered comfort as a state in which the basic human needs of relief, tranquility and transcendence are met in the four contexts of experience – physical, “psychospiritual”, so- ciocultural and environmental – and verified that psy- chiatric inpatients experience discomfort related to the symptoms that result from their illness and from hospi- talization. Aim: To describe the characteristics of comfort/dis- comfort of inpatients in clinical psychiatric facilities. Method: Descriptive study using the Psychiatric Inpa- tients Comfort Scale (PICS), 5 point Likert type, based on the conceptual structure of Kolcaba (2003). Sample: 393 individuals, 215 women and 178 men, mean age 41.26; SD 13.36. Previous studies have demonstrated the psychometric properties of PICS (Apóstolo et al., 2007). For the sample under analysis Cronbach’s alfa of the total scale is 0.91. Results: In the total scale 27.48% of patients experience a high or moderate level of discomfort. The dimensions transcendence and “psychospiritual” were the ones in which patients referred higher discomfort with, respec- tively, 46.05% and 41.47%. Conclusion: Patients feel greater discomfort relating to the conscience of self, meaning of life, self-esteem, self- concept, as well as the potential to make plans, control one’s destiny and solve one’s problems. There are pre- vious results from qualitative studies (Apóstolo, 2009; 2010) that support this evidence having shown that pa- tients feel imprisoned in their illness and limited in the development of their life project. In this way, interven- tions ought to be oriented towards these aspects.