Sexualidade na terceira idade: estudo com idosos participantes de grupos de convivência.

Abstract

Aging is defined as a process of progressive biological, psychological and social changes throughout the human life and according to the world health organization (who) is considered elderly in Brazil individuals agend ≥ 60myears old. Due to this growing number of elderly and the development of care provided to this population several issues are subjects of study in the elderly, and of the most curious which refers to myths, taboos and prejudices is that the elderly no longer experiences the their sexuality. It is characterized not only with sexual intercourse, reproductive vision encompasses all the senses involves a set of experiences, emotions and feelings such as affection and passion. This is a field study of exploratory and descriptive with a qualitative approach to sexuality among the elderly in the elderly group participants living in the municipality of Cajazeiras/PB. The study was conducted in the city of Cajazeiras/PB with elderly people belonging to groups of coexistence “Sister Fernanda´s Friends” and “Pastoral St. John Bosco”. Data were collected by means of a semistructured questionnaire, objective data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, while subjective data were treated by the technique of content analysis proposed by Bardin. Considering the aspects anetioned, this study aims to identify and analyze the perception that the elderly participants living groups have about sexuality in old age. The results show that older people most aften do not have adequate knowledge about aging and sexuality and that over the years a decrease in frequency, sexual desire and satisfaction occurs when compared with their sexual experiences in youth. It is concluded that the study was of great importance as established through contact with the elderly, can understand and know the meaning that sexuality have in their live and thus implement interventions that can contribute to unveil and demystify sexuality in old age.