Eliana Martins

The Family Caregiver of Multiple Sclerosis Eliana Martins

Caring for someone is naturally demanding, especially when the patient has physical or mental limitations, as is the case with a person with Multiple Sclerosis, which is often manifested in young adults and with symptoms of unexpected appearance. The emergence of the caregiver role is usually unpredictable and is often seen as a stressful event for the caregiver and the whole family. The role of the family nurse is thus central to the knowledge of the characteristics of these people and families, as well as the coping strategies adopted by them, which can contribute to the effective mobilisation of individual, family and community resources to respond to difficulties. The objectives of this work are to characterize the person in the Multiple Sclerosis family and the family caregiver, to assess the needs of families with Multiple Sclerosis within the family process and to identify the coping strategies adopted by these families. The study is quantitative, descriptive and cross-sectional in nature, consisting of 25 families with Multiple Sclerosis members.