Um olhar sobre o envelhecimento: a percepção de idosos acerca da velhice.

Abstract

Aging is considered an irreversible natural process that all beings experience, results from physical, social and psychological changes requiring understanding about it to know how to adapt and live with health and quality, recognizing its space in society. This study aimed to represent the perception of the elderly about aging, their individual and social changes and about having health at this stage of life. It consisted of a exploratory, descriptive and qualitative research with a group of 35 elderly people from a Family Health in the municipality of Sousa-PB. For data collection, an interview was used semi-structured whose responses were analyzed using the subject's speech technique proposal proposed by Lefevre & Lefevre. The elderly reported their negative thoughts and positive about aging, changes, fears, community behavior towards them, the ideas and images about having a healthy life in old age despite some limitations. It was found that many elderly people still need more knowledge and assistance in health education to provide a better quality of life and coping skills of adverse situations and adapting to a new lifestyle, not necessarily better worse than before, but just different as in any other stage that causes transformations that will differ in each individual due to their history, their particularities. We conclude with the expectation that this study will be relevant to the elderly, academics and professionals in the field so that assistance can be provided appropriate, contributing to a reduction in the negative way that society stigmatizes the aging.