We observed patients' social perceptions about professionals as minimizers/ maximizers of stress experienced in an Intensive Care Unit. Our assumption was that the situation of an Intensive Care Unit contributes to the appearance of phenomena that change subjective perceptions in order to deal with health/disease matters. The method consisted of applying a questionnaire to evaluate stressful factors in an Intensive Care Unit, and it included certain questions about who would be responsible for provoking the specific stresses experienced. We analyzed relationships between these professionals and some of the dimensions of that experience: individual (patient), inter-individual (patient and other people) and intergroup (patient and professionals). There were 85 participants and we employed the Pearson´s correlation and chi-square tests. The most stressful aspects were those related to the individual dimension, while the least stressful were related to physical structure and intergroup relations. We observed that the team was the figure most associated with stress, which points to a certain dilution of responsibility. There was more emphasis on the physical than the psychosocial aspects in an Intensive Care Unit.
Stress agents; Social perception; Stressors; Professional identity; Intensive Care Units
