ROCHA, A. M. O.; ROCHA, ALINE MARIA DE OLIVEIRA.; DE OLIVEIRA ROCHA, ALINE MARIA.; FLORÊNCIO, C. M. B.; http://lattes.cnpq.br/0800081020946853; http://lattes.cnpq.br/6328420520097246; ROCHA, Aline Maria de Oliveira.; FLORÊNCIO, Carolina Medeiros Brandão.
Resumo:
The evaluation of functional disability of the elderly as well as understanding the
factors that contribute to this are needed in the planning of public policies with
emphasis on the (re)organization of more effective preventive and therapeutic
strategies that will provide greater independence and autonomy to the elderly,
reduce costs to the health service and minimize the burden on caregivers.
Thus, this research aims to study the social aspects and chronic degenerative
diseases present in elderly assisted in the Unity of Basic Health Bonald Filho,
Campina Grande; to assess the degree of functional capacity of the elderly; to
investigate the existence of a relation between social aspects and the degree of
functional capacity of the elderly; to investigate the relation between disability
and caregiver presence. Therefore, it is a clipping from a descriptive study with
a quantitative approach, performed from the activities of the Education Program
for Work in Health, in line Elderly Health, that occurred from December 2011 to
March 2012 and reached a total of 150 interviewed. The Katz Index and the
Lawton Scale were used to collect data. Then the data were analyzed using the
softwares EpiInfo version 7, SPSS version 16 in Portuguese and Microsoft
Excel version 2003 to 2007. The project was submitted for consideration by the
Committee of Ethics in Research of the University Hospital Alcides Carneiro,
and approved under judgment 20112111. The study was composed mostly by
elderly people belonging to the age group between 60 and 79 years (79.3%).
There was a higher prevalence in females (65.3%). Among women, the age
group that stood out was between 70 and 74 years (24.5%) and among men the
highest proportion was between 65 and 69 years (26.9%), demonstrating the
highest life expectancy among women. The Katz index showed 86.6% of the
elderly in category A: 8% category B, 2% category C, 1.3% category F, 1.3%
category G, with the majority of older individuals being independent for basic
activities of daily living. The scale of Lawton held 64.67% of seniors as
independent. Among these, 57.73% were aged between 60 and 70 years,
28.86% were between 71 and 80 years and 13.4% were older than 81 years,
supporting the idea of loss of independence and autonomy with the progression
of age. It was concluded that the actions developed in the context of promoting
the autonomy and functional capacity of the elderly are still insufficient,
especially because very few actions are directed to dependent elderly and their
caregivers. The improvement of this situation involves the qualification of health
teams and the preparation of future professionals in the prospect of an effective
practice of integrated care for the elderly.