Close encounters with caregivers: the case of paediatric brain tumors.

Brain tumours are the most common form of solid tumours in child-wood and are characterized by a very uncertain prognosis. Most of the children who are given a diagnosis of brain tumour undergo one or more very invasive surgical procedures in the very first steps of the treatment. In a Paediatric Neurosurgery Ward, children with brain tumours are referred to be considered among the highest challenge for the équipe of health professional, due to the nature on the bond that is established between the child, the parents and the members of the staff in the course of the dramatic initial phase of the patient’s experience of the illness. Here we present a phenomenologic-hermeneutic study that was developed in the Neurosurgery Ward of the Pediatric A.Meyer Hospital in Florence (Italy). All the caregivers of the Ward underwent in-depth interviews concerning their experience in caring children with brain tumours. Interviews were recorded with the consensus of the participants. The transcribed material was then read and discussed by all the members of the research group; observations and feelings of the interviewers were also analyzed. Then the recorded material underwent content analysis. Shared experiences were pointed out, together with more specific and idiosyncratic contents. In the present paper we focus on the needs that are overtly expressed by the staff and on the main sources of their motivational drives.