Escala analógica de empatia emocional para avaliação da percepção da depressão em idosos.

Abstract

The research aims to develop an Analog Scale of Emotional Empathy (EAEE) to permit evaluation of the perception of depression in the elderly by their respective companions. The opinion of the companion and/or caregiver about the emotional state of the elderly was evaluated. Compared so that perception of the companion harvested by EAEE with the results of validated scales (Zung scale and Yesavage) those assess the emotional state. This study is an experimental, transversal and quantitative character research, which was attended by 23 pairs of elderly and caregivers. The results shows that there was a strong negative correlation between the variable perception of the companion and emotional level according to ZUNG (ρ = -0.88 Spearman; p> 0.001) and between perception of the companion and emotional level according to YESAVAGE (ρ Spearman = -0.87; p> 0.001). The conclusion shows that the emotional status of the elderly was easily identified by the accompanying by using Analog Scale of Emotional Empathy – EAEE, because the negative correlation means that the greater the score in EAEE was correlated with the lower level of depression in elderly, to accord with the scales Zung and Yesavage.