Percepciones de cuidadores familiares frente al cuidado de personas adultas con discapacidad mental e intelectual severa ante el confinamiento por la crisis sanitaria COVID-19 entre marzo y mayo de 2020 en la ciudad de Guayaquil.

Abstract

This research paper aims to understand the perceptions of family caregivers regarding the care of adults with severe mental and intellectual disabilities in the face of confinement due to the Covid-health crisis19, in order to know the daily life of family caregivers and identify the family relationship of the same, in order to expose the coping strategies implemented by these individuals before confinement. The General Theory of Systems, Ecological Theory and Social Constructionism have been used to analyze the information obtained and respond to the proposed objectives. The realization of this research has a qualitative approach, with exploratory level - descriptive and phenomenological method, Semi-structured interviews and documentary review of 5 families that among their members is a person with severe mental and intellectual disabilities and who attend an outpatient day center in the city of Guayaquil. Among the main findings stands out the fact that their care work is influenced mainly by the feeling of love, thus also arising fear for the consequences that the COVID-19 could have on them of becoming infected, since the person with a disability in his or her care would be left unprotected, despite the fact that good relations and family support are evident. Based on this situation, different actions are proposed from the Social Work that allow the visualization of this population and preventive measures are taken before emerging situations such as a health crisis, having a holistic and systemic perspective.