Participação em grupos para a terceira idade e a promoção de comportamentos resilientes em idosos.

Abstract

This study emerged from the an interest in problematize in what form participation in social support groups interfere in the healthy aging and confrontation capacity of the elderly. It is known that in recent years, the elderly population has grown significantly throughout the world. According to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), it is estimated an increase of 16% for the year 2025, adding up to approximately 30 million elderly people in the country. Thus, this proposal aimed to investigate how the participation in groups for Seniors contribute to the promotion resilient behaviors in the elderly. This was an exploratory descriptive study with qualitative approach, developed in the Social Center Urban (CSU) in the city of Cajazeiras - PB, along with 15 individuals engaged in social groups. The inclusion criteria considered: persons aged 60 years or more; assiduously attending support groups; be present at the site of research at the time of data collection; allow free and clear way to answer the protocols. The research were excluded, the elderly who did not meet the above conditions. Data were collected in April 2016, through semi-structured interviews guided by a guiding script containing information about the socio-demographic profile of the participants and issues relevant to the theme. The data were analyzed qualitatively from the extracted points of the speeches of the study subjects, following the method of content analysis. From the results, we observed that 93.4% (N = 14) of the elderly are women, mostly widowers (N = 7, 46.7%), with 53.36% (N = 08) having 1 to 3 children. Through content analysis four categories emerged: "Understanding the elderly about the aging process"; "Participation in community groups for Seniors and the perception of the elderly about the contributions of social engagement"; "The relationship between participation in social projects and the promotion of well-being and resilience in the elderly" and "mechanisms that work in building resilient behaviors in elderly individuals to participate in social groups." From the study, it was concluded that there is a significant relationship between participation in groups, well-being and resilience while, that this interaction contributes to the acceptance of aging as well as a satisfactory quality of life.