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Updated: Oct 27, 2025

Eye-Tracking Control to Assess Cognitive Functions in Patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Published on: October 13, 2016
Existential transformations in the process of facing amyotrophic lateral sclerosis by the family caregiver
Lays Pedrosa Dos Santos Costa1, Isabel Comassetto1, Regina Maria Dos Santos1
1Universidade Federal de Alagoas (UFAL), Escola de Enfermagem. Maceió, Alagoas, Brasil.
Objective:
To understand the existential transformations of the family caregiver of a person living with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.
Method:
Qualitative study based on assumptions of Martin Heidegger Existential Phenomenology, with 12 family caregivers of the person with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, in Alagoas. The testimonies were obtained from June 2019 to March 2020 and analyzed, categorized, and discussed based on the theoretical-philosophical framework adopted and thematic literature.
Results:
Phenomenological sense of the existential transformations of the family caregiver of a person living with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, unveiled with the categories: Being the caregiver of the person living with ALS; Being responsible for decision making; Resignifying the existence in view of the possibility of loss; Spirituality influencing the transformation process.
Conclusions:
The family caregiver has an appropriate life due to the inherent vicissitudes of the disease, which provides moving moments that lead him to rethink his existence and to value life.
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