Avaliação da qualidade de vida em idosos acometidos por doenças articulares.

Abstract

Articular diseases are serious and committed to physical fitness, functional capacity and psychosocial aspects of the individual, which ultimately influence the various dimensions of quality of life (QOL) of the elderly. This research aimed to evaluate the overall quality of life and faceted elderly patients with joint diseases. This is an exploratory-observational study, quantitative, carried out in the micro Western Curimataú state of Paraiba (PB), represented by five municipalities: Santa Rosa Bar, Cuité, New Forest, Remigio and Sossego, with a sample 76 elderly. Data were collected using two instruments: the socio-demographic / behavioral questionnaire and WHOQOL-old, after approval by the Ethics Committee of the Hospital Universitário Alcides Carneiro, Federal University of Campina Grande in opinion No. 844,702. The results showed that most of the elderly are women, married, aged 60 to 74 years, can not read / write and has individual income up to a minimum wage, but notes with satisfaction their basic needs. Regarding risk factors, most are non-smoking, does not consume alcohol, do not exercise and stress shows an intermediate level. On QOL, the facet of best result was "Activities Past, Present and Future", confirming that the disease is not negative in this respect. In contrast, the facet worst result was the "Social participation", where independence is affected to varying degrees, which creates limitations in social activities, leisure and professional. Thus, the continued attention to the elderly affected by joint disease is still fragile and nursing should seek to encourage self-care, facilitating its adaptation to chronic diseases and providing better QOL indices.