Percepções de idosos institucionalizados acerca do processo de envelhecimento.

Abstract

The increase in life expectancy has brought a new scenery to the world population, a big rise in number of elderly. This contingent of elderly people follows, nevertheless, the statistics of chronic-degenerative diseases growth, which makes the aging a not always healthy process. In this sense, the elderly population is often composed of dependent people, resulting from lack of political and social planning to regard this population overall and steady growth. The aim of this study is to analyze the different perceptions of the elderly residents at Instituicao de Longa Permanencia Abrigo Luca Zorn de Cajazeiras- PB, about the aging process. This is a descriptive exploratory study with a quantitative approach, carried out at Luca Zorn in Cajazeiras- PB. Twenty elderly contributed to the investigation. All participants responded to a semi-structured interview containing questions about aging process, where the outcome of the research was provided in charts and graphs and analyzed in light of relevant literature. The profile of institutionalized elderly shows that the majority are female, aged between 50 to 110 years, with the highest rate of widows, with elementary education. From the interviewed people, 70% define aging as good, 50% reported feeling well in a long-stay institution, 65% miss their old life, 65% do not receive family visits, 55% engage in physical activity in the rest home, 99% do noj perform activities in the institution, 99% claim to follow the medical recommendation and 100% participate of Church mass carried out in the rest home. We conclude that it is notorious the importance of the study on aging, mainly about elderly who live in long-stay institutions, as well as the health professionals preparation for the changes that occur throughout life, whether physiological or pathological, helping the elderly to have a better life with them and promoting self-care.