Entre o saber e o sentir: percepções de acadêmicos de enfermagem sobre seus sentimentos frente ao cuidado à mulher com perda fetal

Abstract

Fetal death constitutes an event of great emotional impact for women and their families, requiring nursing professionals and students to provide sensitive, humanized, and technically qualified care. However, coping with this situation during professional training still represents a challenge. This study aimed to analyze the perceptions of nursing students regarding their feelings toward caring for women experiencing fetal loss after an educational intervention. This was a qualitative study with a descriptive and exploratory design, conducted with nursing students from a federal higher education institution. Data were collected in 2019 through face- to-face individual interviews guided by a semi-structured script and conducted after an educational intervention consisting of a lecture, linked to the macroproject “Care for women experiencing fetal loss: caring-educational technologies in nursing education.” All interviews were audio-recorded and later transcribed. Data were subjected to thematic content analysis, and all phases of the research were guided by ethical principles. Fourteen students participated in the study, twelve of whom were female, and all had completed their nursing degree at the time of the study. The results revealed two central categories: the human and emotional dimension of care in the context of fetal death, and the educational dimension and preparation for future professional practice. The findings showed that experiencing and reflecting on care for bereaved women mobilizes profound feelings such as empathy, insecurity, sadness, and fear, while also highlighting the importance of developing communication and emotional competencies to provide sensitive and humanized care. The study also found that students feel insufficiently prepared to deal with situations of gestational loss, reinforcing the need to strengthen curricular content and teaching methodologies addressing perinatal grief. It is concluded that the educational intervention contributed to broadening students’ understanding of the topic, underscoring the relevance of educational strategies that integrate theory, practice, and the emotional aspects of care, thereby promoting more qualified training aligned with the demands of healthcare practice.