Resumo

JEREZ MOLINA, Carmen; GARCIA CARULLA, Elvira; SAZ ROY, Mª Ángeles  e  TAMAME SAN ANTONIO, Marta. Work with Africa: The experience of returning. Index Enferm [online]. 2010, vol.19, n.2-3, pp.111-114. ISSN 1699-5988.

The Hospital de San Juan de Dios collaborates since 2002 with the Hospital from St. John of God Hospital in Mabesseneh (Sierra Leone) when the last resumed its activity after the Civil war of 1991. A part of this collaboration consists in sending a nurse and a paediatrician every two months. All these professional start the project with a "Western" concept of Health, with some ideas of change.... When they are back at home... What has happened? Have they changed the African world or has it changed then? These are the main questions where our investigation comes from. Methodology: Non-directive interviews to seven nurses who had collaborated with the program. The obtained data were analysed by using The Taylor and Bogdan's method for the analysis of qualitative data. Results: The interviewed people affirm that, after the experience, one learns to appreciate what is available in the Western World. At the beginning it looks as if the nursery practice changes but, indeed, the human beings can adapt themselves to the environment either when arriving to Africa or when departing from. The imprint of these experiences makes the person. Very little differences are observed for people who have travelled more than once. Discussion-Conclusions: The experiences of each individual can be very different having in mind the objectives initially planned. The same can be said for the imprint of these experiences. But it is clear that, after a quite short time, any change in the nursing practice is not significant.

Palavras-chave : Fenomenology; Nurse; Cooperation; Experience.