scholarly journals The fabric of resilience among the elderly and the reinvention of the self despite the difficulties faced

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 312-319
Author(s):  
Daniel Rocha Silveira ◽  
Karla Cristina Giacomin ◽  
Rosângela Correa Dias ◽  
Josélia Oliveira Araújo Firmo
Keyword(s):  
Elderly People ◽  
Religious Experience ◽  
Frail Elderly ◽  
Elderly Person ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Minas Gerais ◽  
Religious Community ◽  
The Self ◽  
Elderly Persons ◽  
Belo Horizonte

Abstract Objective :To seek an understanding of how frail elderly persons construct resilience. Method: The “signs, meanings and actions” model was used. The population was randomly selected among elderly persons classified as robust or pre-frail in the FIBRA-study, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Thirteen elderly persons (aged 69 to 86) were interviewed. Results: a) the construction of bonds - a healthy relationship with spouses, sons, daughters, grandchildren and great-grandchildren brings meaning to and sustains life and contributes to its organization; b) the reinvention of oneself - when suffering trauma, elderly people seek paths that can give sense to life, even if difficult memories persist; c) religiosity: catholic, evangelical or spiritualist experiences strengthen; cures, protections and so-called miracles are valued, and the religious community represents a space for belonging. Conclusion: Resilience is constructed through the bonds between the elderly person and those close to them, and in the search for solutions, including through the religious experience.

Why suicide? Elderly people who committed suicide and their experience of life in the period before their death

2009 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ildri Kjølseth ◽  
Øivind Ekeberg ◽  
Sissel Steihaug
Keyword(s):  
Elderly People ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Functional Decline ◽  
Elderly Person ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Elderly Persons ◽  
Psychological Autopsy ◽  
Autopsy Study ◽  
Family Doctors ◽  
Home Based

ABSTRACTBackground: The objective of this study is to acquire an understanding of the suicides among a group of elderly people by studying how they experienced their existence towards the end of life.Methods: This is a psychological autopsy study based on qualitative interviews with 63 informants in relation to 23 suicides committed by persons aged over 65 in Norway. Informants who knew the deceased persons well describe what the elderly person communicated to them about their experience of life in the period before the suicide and how they as informants saw and understood this. The informants comprise relatives, family doctors and home-based care nurses. The analysis of the interviews follows the systematic text condensation method.Results: The descriptions are divided into three main elements: the elderly persons' experiences of life, their perception of themselves, and their conceptions of death. “Experience of life” has two sub-topics: this life has been lived and life as a burden. Everything that had given value to their life had been lost and life was increasingly experienced as a burden. Their “perception of themselves” concerned losing oneself. Functional decline meant that they no longer had freedom of action and self-determination. “Conceptions of death” involve the following sub-topics: acknowledgement/acceptance and death is better than life. Life had entered into its final phase, and they seemed to accept death. For some time, many of them had expressed the wish to die.Conclusions: The results lead us to argue that their suicides should be considered as existential choices. The sum total of the different forms of strain had made life a burden they could no longer bear. Age meant that they were in a phase of life that entailed closeness to death, which they could also see as a relief.

scholarly journals Geriatric health related problems in an urban area of southern Rajasthan

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (10) ◽  
pp. 4545
Author(s):  
Nitesh Mangal ◽  
Dilip Kumar L. ◽  
K. A. Varghese ◽  
Meet Chauhan ◽  
Matariswa Samanta
Keyword(s):  
Urban Area ◽  
Elderly People ◽  
Elderly Person ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Elderly Persons ◽  
Elderly Male ◽  
Chi Square ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Chi Square Test

Background: There is a paradigm shift in the social values towards the elderly people due to urbanization and higher educational linked migration. Consequently, problems like loneliness, lack of emotional support, economic insecurities are faced by the elderly population. The objectives of the study were to assess the socio-economic dimensions and to examine the morbidity and mortality patterns of elderly persons in the study area.Methods: A cross- sectional study was conducted among 536 elderly persons from May to August 2019 in an urban area of Udaipur. A pre-structured and pre-tested questionnaire was used to collect information on socio-demographic details, morbidity profile and socio-economic problems of elderly persons. The data was analyzed using class frequencies, ‘t’ test for equality of gender difference in mortality ages and Chi-square test for association of age class with morbidity.Results: A majority of study subjects were females (52.05%). There was significant difference in proportions of elderly male and female persons across their educational levels. The chi-square test for association of age classes with number of health problems revealed significant association. About 56.34% of 536 elderly people were leading an unsatisfactory life.Conclusions: The major morbidities included arthritis, hypertension, diabetes, cataract, dental problems, cardiovascular problems etc. Financial problems were more severe among elderly. The availability of trained paramedical professionals for home care and day care units and legal bindings on family members for safety and security of elderly person can be effective measures to overcome the problems being faced by them. 

scholarly journals Family and social vulnerability: a study with octogenarians

2009 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 374-379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sofia Cristina Iost Pavarini ◽  
Elizabeth Joan Barha ◽  
Marisa Silvana Zazzetta de Mendiondo ◽  
Carmen Lucia Alves Filizola ◽  
José Fernando Petrilli Filho ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Elderly People ◽  
Social Vulnerability ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Elderly Person ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Vulnerability Index ◽  
Elderly Persons ◽  
Social Vulnerability Index ◽  
Ethical Guidelines ◽  
The Social

In order to guide the development of dementia-related public policies for the elderly, it is important to identify factors that vary together with the social vulnerability of this population. This study aimed to identify the relationship between the São Paulo Social Vulnerability Index (IPVS) and various indicators of family support for elderly people over 80 years of age, who presented cognitive alterations (N=49). All ethical guidelines were followed. Data were collected at the homes of the elderly people. A large majority of the respondents lived with family members (88%). In half of the cases, the respondents lived with one (41%) or two (9%) other elderly persons. On average, there was one more non-elderly person living in the high vulnerability family context (M = 3.6, sd = 1.70) than in contexts of very low vulnerability (M = 2.4, sd = 1.07), F(2.43) = 3.364, p < 0.05. However, the functionality of the support provided by these family members needs to be verified, in each of these contexts.

Long-term care for elderly people in the UK

1999 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 383-393 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norman J Vetter
Keyword(s):  
Elderly People ◽  
Long Term Care ◽  
Elderly Person ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Royal Commission ◽  
Elderly Persons ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The Uk

The recent Royal Commission report on funding long-term care was produced following more than 100 visits and evidence from 400 organizations. It was set up following concern at the costs of long-term care for elderly people and what was seen to be the anomalous position of elderly people cared for by the NHS in long-term beds, where all costs were found by the state, albeit that elderly persons themselves lost most of their benefits. This contrasted with those in the social or independent sector, where payment has to be made unless the elderly person is poor.

scholarly journals Perceived neighborhood characteristics and the functional performance of elderly people in the Belo Horizonte Metropolitan Area, Minas Gerais State, Brazil: a quantile regression analysis

2016 ◽  
Vol 32 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Renzo Joel Flores Ortiz ◽  
Fabiane Ribeiro Ferreira ◽  
Maria Fernanda Lima-Costa ◽  
Cibele Comini César
Keyword(s):  
Quantile Regression ◽  
Elderly People ◽  
Metropolitan Area ◽  
Functional Performance ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Minas Gerais ◽  
Neighborhood Characteristics ◽  
Minas Gerais State ◽  
Quantile Regression Analysis ◽  
Belo Horizonte

Abstract: This study aims to examine the relationship between neighborhood characteristics and the functional performance of elderly people living in the Belo Horizonte metropolitan area, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. Data of a representative sample of 2,033 elderly were analyzed using quantile regression. Functional performance was measured by the number of activities of daily living (ADL) the elderly had difficulty to perform. The neighborhood characteristics evaluated were: maintenance, trust, insecurity and defective sidewalks. Functional performance was found positively associated with the characteristic defective sidewalks, whose effect increased as the number of ADL the elderly had difficulty to perform increased. The results suggest that inadequate sidewalk conditions can contribute to functional losses in elderly people, especially among those who are functionally more compromised.

Mourning and Reminiscence: Parallel Psychotherapeutic Processes for Elderly People

1989 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 239-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda L. Viney ◽  
Yvonne N. Benjamin ◽  
Carol Preston
Keyword(s):  
Elderly People ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Theoretical Explanation ◽  
Personal Construct ◽  
Elderly Persons ◽  
Personal Construct Theory ◽  
Psychotherapeutic Processes ◽  
Construct Theory ◽  
The Relationship

Mourning and reminiscence are therapeutic processes common in therapeutic work with the elderly. However, a theoretical explanation of why they are effective has been lacking. Personal construct theory accounts for both in terms of the search of elderly persons for validation of their construct systems. In this article, this explanation of the parallel psychotherapeutic processes is explored, together with relevant information from the literature on mourning and reminiscence. Therapeutic case studies illustrate the characteristics of the two processes and the relationship between them.

Does an impaired capacity for self-care impact the prevalence of social and emotional loneliness among elderly people?

2018 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Irena Canjuga ◽  
Danica Železnik ◽  
Marijana Neuberg ◽  
Marija Božicevic ◽  
Tina Cikac
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Elderly People ◽  
Age Distribution ◽  
Self Care ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
The Self ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Care Assessment ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of self-care on the prevalence of loneliness among elderly people living in retirement homes and older people living in their homes/communities. Design/methodology/approach The research was conducted through standardized SELSA-L assessment loneliness questionnaires and the Self Care Assessment Worksheet for self-care assessment. The results were processed using the Kruskal–Wallis test. Findings The obtained results have shown that impaired self-care ability affects the prevalence of loneliness among the elderly almost the same in both groups of participants. However, regarding the relationship between the state of health and self-care, only a statistically significant difference in the prevalence of loneliness is found in the case of the participants living in their homes, with the worst health condition affecting the poorer psychological care. Research limitations/implications It is necessary to point out the limitations of the research, primarily sample limitations and the selected design of the study. The sample consisted of two different and relatively small groups of participants which could adversely affect the representativeness of the sample and reduce the possibility of generalising the results. The next limiting factor is the age distribution the authors used in the research, where the age of the participants as a very important variable was collected by age range and not precisely which consequently resulted in inequality in subgroup sizes. Thus, the middle age (75–85) covers up to ten years, which is a huge range at an older age and can mean major differences in functional ability, and can impact the self-care assessment. Practical implications Nurses are indispensable in care for the elderly and they need to promote and encourage self-care of the elderly through health care. Elderly people living in retirement homes should be allowed to participate equally in health care in order to preserve their own autonomy and dignity. However, to benefit those who live in their homes, nurses should be connected to the local community and thus stimulate various forms of preventative (testing blood sugar levels, blood pressure and educating on the importance of preventive examinations) or recreational activities in the environment of elderly people with the goal of preserving their functional abilities. Originality/value The impact of self-care on loneliness was not sufficiently researched, and this paper contributed to understanding the complexity of loneliness phenomena among the elderly with the aim of developing a model of prevention.

scholarly journals Home-based oral healthcare strategies of elderly people with Alzheimer's disease

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 851-860 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandra Martins Ferreira Warmling ◽  
Silvia Maria Azevedo dos Santos ◽  
Ana Lúcia Schaefer Ferreira de Mello
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Oral Health ◽  
Elderly Person ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Oral Health Care ◽  
University Graduates ◽  
Elderly Persons ◽  
Home Based

Abstract Objective: To identify strategies used in the oral health care of elderly persons with Alzheimer's disease in the home. Method: an exploratory, descriptive study with a qualitative approach to collecting and analyzing data was performed. Data was collected through interviews with 30 caregivers and analyzed by the content analysis technique. Results: The majority of subjects were female, daughters of the elderly person, university graduates and aged 32-77 years. The strategies identified were grouped into categories according to the participation of the caregiver: does not participate in care actions or oral health assessments; reminds the elderly person about oral hygiene, demonstrates movements and assists with some procedures; directly carries out actions of care. Conclusion: The strategies employed are related to the degree of dependence of the elderly person, as the caregiver acts based on the need for oral health care and the difficulties in carrying out such care.

scholarly journals Sociodemographic and clinical profile of elderly persons accompanied by Family Health teams under the gender perspective / Perfil sociodemográfico e clínico de idosos acompanhados por equipes de Saúde da Família sob a perspectiva do gênero

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrícia Aparecida Barbosa Silva ◽  
Francielle Carolina Santos ◽  
Sônia Maria Soares ◽  
Líliam Barbosa Silva
Keyword(s):  
Family Health ◽  
Minas Gerais ◽  
Clinical Profile ◽  
Elderly Persons ◽  
Gender Perspective ◽  
Belo Horizonte

Objetivo: avaliar o perfil sociodemográfico e clínico de idosos diabéticos e/ou hipertensos acompanhados pelas equipes de Saúde da Família sob a perspectiva do gênero. Métodos: estudo quantitativo, transversal envolvendo 381 idosos cadastrados nas vinte Unidades Básicas de Saúde do Distrito Sanitário Noroeste de Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais. Coleta de dados ocorreu em outubro de 2011 a março de 2012. Utilizado questionário estruturado com variáveis sociodemográficas, clínicas e comportamentais. Projeto de pesquisa aprovado por Comitê de Ética, Parecer n° 0043.0.410.203-10 e 0043.0.410.203-10A. Resultados: o sexo feminino foi prevalente, indicando o fenômeno feminilização da velhice, sendo a maioria proveniente do interior de Minas Gerais, viúva, com baixa escolaridade e renda e, ainda, alta carga mórbida. Conclusão: É necessária ampliação de estudos e políticas de saúde pública que incorporem o conceito gênero, em prol da construção de uma sociedade menos gerofóbica e sexista.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document