CONVIVENCIA DURANTE LA COVID-19: VIVENCIAS DE FAMILIARES DEL PERSONAL ENFERMERO DE ÁREAS CRÍTICAS

INTRODUCTION. The COVID-19 pandemic has fragmented families, with family members of healthcare professionals being the most affected. OBJECTIVE. To analyze family members' experiences of living with nursing professionals who worked in critical areas with confirmed COVID-19 patients..METHODS. Qualitative study, with a descriptive phenomenological design using a semi-structured interview technique with 15 participants who were family members of health professionals from second and third level institutions. The data were obtained using convenience sampling and information saturation, and analyzed following Colaizzi's method and the application of MAXQDEA 2022 software. RESULTS. Five categories were obtained: 1. fear of family member complications due to COVID-19 infection; 2. hope in God to take care of family members during the pandemic; 3. lack of timely information about coronavirus impacts on the well-being of the nursing professional's family members; 4. family members' experience with health personnel while waiting for confirmation of the coronavirus diagnosis; and 5. family members' critical perspective on living with health professionals working in critical COVID-19 areas. CONCLUSIONS. It was found that any confrontation with the unknown generates different behaviors, which, when accompanied by misinformation, intensifies suffering and diminishes psychosocial well-being. The study also vindicated spirituality and family bonding as strategies that improve coping while coexisting during the pandemic.