The social support to assist mastectomized women in their need

Abstract

Mastectomy is an aggressive surgical process that can lead to unfavorable physical and emotional repercussions to the life of women , and they need support to properly adjust themselve to their new Health condition. The purpose of this work is to identify the needs of social supportfor mastectomized women, classifying in emotional, material, informative and comparative support. Data was collected from 22 mastectomized women who attended the Ribeirão Preto Nursing School Rehabilitation Center through semi-structured interviews. A qualitative approach was closen because it allowed a better understanding of the needs of the enquired women. According to what women mentioned about support, we noticed that the women have been receiving positive support in the form of affection and understanding, and negative support in the form of indifference and scorn. As to material support, it was shown that they take overmost home making activities, and do not receive the expected help from their families, and that many a time are economically dependent on family members. As to informative support, the women were insecure and upset, for they had not received enough orientation in the Services they attended, for treatment follow-up . As to the reahabCenter, besides getting information, there were people to hear them out. From the depositions taken we noticed that women compare their cases with similar ones that assailed relatives or friends. It was concluded that the mastectomized woman needs several sources of support to recover from the illness and to adapt herself to life after surgery.