Declínio cognitivo e atividade de vida diária: estudo em idosos residentes em instituições de longa permanência.

Abstract

The cognitive decline and changes in activities of daily living (ADLs) is one of the main factors that predispose elderly people to Long Term Care Facilities for the elderly (LTCF's). The overall objective of the research comprises in assessing the cognitive decline and the impairment of ADL's elderly residents in Long Term Care. This is a cross-sectional, descriptive and exploratory study, with a quantitative approach.Five LTCF's were used for research, three located in the city of Cajazeiras – PB and two in Sousa – PB. The study population consisted of 74 elderly and only 31 met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The instruments used were semi- structured interview containing socioeconomic data, Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Katz Index for cognitive evaluation and physical respectively. The results and the statistical analysis were transported to Microsoft Office Excel program for the preparation of tables and graphs with the variables of the research, faced with the literature. The research was carried according to the ethical and legal requirements of Resolution No. 466/12 of the National Health Council. The data collection was initiated after approval by the Research Ethics Committee of the Teacher Training Center via Brazil platform with a favorable opinion No. 926.110. As for the results, the elderly have an average of 77.6 years, mostly female (61.2%), widowed (61.2%), illiterate (80.6%), farmers (70.9%) with monthly income of a minimum wage (73.7%), between one and five years of time of institutionalization (51.6%).The MMSE scores was low, and 71% had values below the cut-off point for education, suggesting decline in cognition. The overall average obtained by the MMSE was 14.9 points, and the women had an average of 14 points and the men’s average was of 16.2 points.Most had partially dependent for the performance of ADLs measured by the Katz Index, with 61% while 36% are independent and 3% totally dependent. The research shows the need for greater attention on the cognitive and physical abilities of the elderly in ADL’s, in order to add a better quality of life for this population. The use of instruments for physical and cognitive assessment can assist the nursing staff for the early detection of dementia and physical disabilities in older people, contributing to the development of a care plan