Banca de DEFESA: JULIANA DE ALMEIDA SILVA

PSYCHOLOGICAL INTERVENTION FOCUSED ON PEOPLE GRIEFING IN THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Grief; Covid-19; Person Centered Approach

The Covid-19 pandemic triggered the experience of concrete and symbolic mourning. From the perspective of the Person-Centered Approach, grief can be understood as the experience of thoughts, feelings and physical sensations related to changes in the phenomenological field of a person, whose loss can generate tensions in the organism-environment relationship and threaten the self. The person-centered psychologist unconditionally considers and understands the bereaved person's loss from the client's internal frame of reference, facilitating the conscious symbolization of this experience. The aim of this study is to develop a person-centered intervention in the face of grief experienced by individuals who have lost loved ones due to Covid-19. This study converges with the objectives of the Clinical Practices and Mental Health line, as it develops a mental health practice aligned with the expanded clinic. This is a qualitative research that uses the methods of Action Research and Case Study. Two grieving clients were assisted, in which they participated from seven to ten sessions. To obtain empirical material, two semi-structured interviews and online individual psychological care sessions were carried out. The field script was used as a tool for monitoring and improving actions. The analysis of empirical material is guided by Content Analysis. Research results are presented in four studies. The first article proposes the development of an instrument (research product) that can be used as a care management tool or as a field guide to conduct the monitoring phase of a person-centered intervention in an action-research context. The second article comprises the grieving experiences from the perspective of the Person-Centered Approach, before the beginning of the therapeutic process. The third article focuses on the description and analysis of the interventions carried out in the participants' psychological care. The fourth article deepens one of the cases treated and presents an analysis on the symbolization of mourning in the therapeutic context. The results showed that person-centered interventions facilitated the process of working through the clients' grief, favoring contact with emotions, reorganizing the self and reducing the state of tension. It is considered that the development of the research brought direct benefits to the study participants and enabled the improvement of the professional practice of the psychologist-researcher. It is hoped that this research will contribute to support person-centered interventions in the face of grief and encourage new studies on the subject, especially in the area of Health Psychology.