RESILIENCE IN FAMILIES OF PATIENTS WITH SPINOCEREBELLAR ATAXIA TYPE 2.

Abstract

The research is based on the need to optimize and deepen the functioning of the families of patients with Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 2 (hereinafter SCA2). With the intention of systematizing the potentialities of the Resilience Approach for psychosocial intervention in these families, the following objectives were defined: to characterize the families of patients with ACS2 from the psychological perspective of family functioning, to identify theoretical indicators for the development of resilience in families of patients with SCA2 and describe the behavior of the indicators in the families studied. The qualitative methodology was used with the case study method and methods of the theoretical and empirical level were privileged, highlighting the interview, observation and psychological tests, mainly for psychological evaluation. The results show a paranormative family crisis with significant repercussions on intra-family relationships and emotional expression, difficulties in the development of communication and family adaptability associated with the knowledge of the diagnosis and the communication of the news in the family, as well as the concentration of conflicts in two fundamental areas: coexistence and the health-disease process. The resilience approach emerges as an alternative to face the demands and difficulties that families present, in order to favor coping and strengthen their adaptive mechanisms in crisis situations, which laid the foundations to identify and describe in the families studied the following indicators: shared belief system, coping capacity, adaptability and protective factors.