Dinámica familiar en la etapa del nido vacío

Abstract

Throughout the life cycle, the family goes through various stages and transitions that shape its dynamics and structure. One of these stages is the empty nest, this occurs when a son leave home to seek their independence and establish themselves, leaving the parents to face a new reality: living alone again. The objective of the study was to determine the family dynamics that occurs in the empty nest stage of the parent teachers of the "Belisario Quevedo" Educational Unit in the city of Pujilí, it worked with 30 teachers who are going through this situation. The research has a qualitative approach, an interview guide of 21 questions was designed, distributed in 4 dimensions (crisis, family adaptability, individuation, affective unity), with 10 indicators (reaction, mourning, detachment, structure, roles, habits, reunion in the couple, sense of identity, life project and social support), it was validated through the review of three experts and for its analysis a semantic network was elaborated that allowed to identify the most significant aspects that characterize this stage and thus determine the new dynamics. In the research process, it was possible to identify two events in this transition, called "partially empty nest" when some children have left home, and the "complete empty nest", when all the children have left. Among the most relevant results, it was found that family dynamics change mainly in roles, structure, communication, affective relationships, authority, and in the sense of identity and autonomy. With the information collected, several intervention strategies are proposed from Social Work to help parents in coping with this stage, focused on guidance and education, strengthening the filial and marital relationship, promoting support networks, and developing skills and personal projects.