Experience of the health psychologist in the process of accompanying dying

Abstract

This research aimed to understand the experience of health psychologists in the process of accompanying the dying within the hospital context. It was developed under an interpretive paradigm, with qualitative methodology and employing a phenomenological design. Six (6) semi-structured interviews were conducted with Venezuelan informants, health psychologists who accompany the dying in the hospital context, female, between 25 and 70 years old. The information was analyzed hermeneutically, with triangulation of experts and classifying excerpts of their speeches into main categories and subcategories. The results indicated that the experience of the health psychologist who accompanies the dying reveals a complex interaction of multiple factors that comprise it, such as the conception of death, professional training, the challenges of accompaniment, the purpose of life, and transcendence. Concluding that, despite the adversities manifest in the accompaniment, the process reveals a source of profound meaning and transformation for the psychologist who carries it out.