Morando distantes do contexto familiar na velhice: violência contra idosos ou opção de vida?.

Abstract

Violence against the elderly covers psychological and sexual harm, besides the physical one. They go through abandonment, negligence, financial abuse, suffering, injury, pain, failure or loss of human rights and reduced quality of their lives (MELLO, MOYSÉS, 2010). In the society we live in, this problem has been increasing, becoming more socially visible, either by population increase in that age group, or the emphasis on the rights discussions in laws and national and international policies of the elderly (RIBEIRO, SOUZA, VALADARES, 2012). That being stated, a question arises: what prompted the elderly of the city of Cajazeiras to join in long-term care facilities or to live alone, far from family background? It is about a quantitative, qualitative, descriptive, exploratory and cross-sectional study, which is based on a field survey conducted in September 2015, with institutionalized elderly and distant residents domiciled in the family context, the city of Cajazeiras. As a sample group, we had twenty-five elderly people, and as a result, we found that most of them were female, caucasian, widowed, with family living, literate, retired, earning from one to two minimum wages, and have basic conditions of keeping themselves. Also, they were predominantly Catholic, with chronic diseases, using daily medications, able to perform the activities of everyday life, living away from the family environment for more than 10 years, mostly by the elderly choice themselves, even though they consider that family is important. The qualitative analysis had the following categories: cohabitation style, where it was understood the reasons that older people were to dwell without their families. The second category is referred to the relationship with the family, which brings as a result a good relationship among families; the third category portrayed the violence experienced, with the approach of the phenomenon of violence against the elderly. We realized, during analyzing the speech of respondents and the data described in the charges, that several reasons led to this. Since the initiative was made by both the elderly, mostly seeking to preserve their identity, freedom and routine, and through family, in a small minority, which by many factors thought they could not afford to care for them, opting thus for institutionalization. These findings emphasize the need of deeper study in this field, as well as the clarification of the general population on the definition/recognition of violence and the importance of complaint about this age group. This result raises the need for further research as much of the health care for the elderly, to investigate/reveal the conditions under which people live that age.