The practice of psychologists in pediatric oncology is recent and involves claims related to the disease process and its psychosocial implications, and not infrequently, the imminence of death or even chances of cure. Thus, this research aimed at understanding the practice of professionals in Recife-PE. The methodology was the qualitative phenomenological inspiration. The instruments used were: interviews, focus groups and conversations with nine participants in addition to the field notes. The narratives were transcribed verbatim, literalized (Schmidt, 1990) and interpreted by the analytic sense (Critelli, 2007). The practice was characterized by the coexistence of the following: long period of familiarity with patients and families, emotional involvement and closeness between them, and the intensity with respect to the links forged. These dimensions resonate in the ways-of-being and being-in-the-world of the participants, making the practice move through the ontic and ontological dimensions of care. Over time, the practice tends to be anchored in the experiences of co-existence. This practice includes an ethical exercise to host differences, inability to control events, and also the imminence of death that pervades the practice, casting professionals to break away from individual stocks, re-size the know-how and re-invent interventional modes by daily trial.
Care; Pediatric psycho-oncology; Practice (Psychology); Death
