Bate coração: apego, casamento e recuperação

Abstract

The purpose of this project was to understand and examine the importance of perceived social support, mainly romantic relationship support, concerning the process of recovering from a cardiac bypass surgery. The theoretical paradigm was John Bowlby s Attachment Theory, which states the human ability and necessity of making affectional bonds. Romantic love is considered an attachment process as it is formed by affectional bonds existing among adult lovers, and their importance reside not only in helping the individual to shape its self-concept but also the concept of others, as well as it is an important factor in the way people connect to others. In this context, disease is almost a perfect trigger to mobilize attachment behaviors due to the fact that it may represent loss, threat, isolation and dependency. So, social support and caregiving are essential elements not only to the individual s health and well-being but also to the development and maintenance of healthy and satisfactory close relationships. A case study was carried out with a woman with a cardiac disease who suffered a bypass surgery, and as instrument, it was used the semi-directed interview. The findings show that the patient s caregiving needs were frustrated by her romantic partner not only because of the couple s attachment styles influence but also because of gender issues related to caregiving