Idosos que vivem em instituição de longa permanência: vínculo, cuidado da família e capacidade funcional

Abstract

This study addresses aspects related to the bonding, family care and functional capacity of elderly people living in a long-term institution. Based on interviews with relatives of the institutionalized elderly, it was intended to investigate the bond and care of the family relating them to their respective degree of functionality, as well as to analyze if the family demands present in the contemporaneity affect affective abandonment and reduction of care with the institutionalized elderly. The accelerated growth in the number of elderly people is a factor that leads to the analysis of the conditions of aging and its implications in the reduction of functional capacity with consequent demands that involve the care of the family, especially when this elderly person has some degree of dependence. The methodology used in this study was qualitative and exploratory. The functional capacity of 26 elderly subjects was evaluated through the Katz Index. Five of these elderly relatives were selected for the interviews. The results show that the main reasons for hospitalization of an elderly person in an ILPI are reflected in the family's difficulty in exercising care, in the difficulties of relationship and coexistence in the family environment. and in the absence of public policies with a government program aimed at the dependent elderly population and their family. However, the permanence of these elderly people in ILPI can bring gains both in their socialization and in the maintenance of family ties.