Falls in Elderly

The objective of this chapter is to identify the risk factors and preponderant causes of falls in the hospital elderly inpatients. A survey on the search engines B-on, EBSCO, and Pubmed, followed by an analysis of the title and abstract is done. Afterwards, the authors analyze all the articles with full text available in Portuguese, Spanish, and English. The most common risk factor for falls in the analyzed articles was being aged above 65 years old. More than half of the articles also mentioned intrinsic factors such as mental disorder, mobility disorder, and use of medication. As for extrinsic factors associated with risk of falls, most of the articles mentioned the characteristics of bed/chair and the obstacles associated with the physical/environmental infrastructures. The prevention strategies for this phenomenon must consider each country and care unit specifically as well as the specific characteristics of its patients, aiming to promote the care quality.

Prevalence of Cardiovascular Risk Factors in the Elderly Population of Alentejo

The objective of this chapter is to identify cardiovascular risk factors in the elderly and their prevalence in the elderly population of Alentejo. The research question was elaborated according to the PI[C]OD methodology. The prevalence studies included allow the authors to identify the risk factors with the greatest impact on cardiovascular diseases, with the analysis of at least one of the factors (hypertension, diabetes, smoking, obesity, hypercholesterolemia, alcoholism, and sedentary lifestyle) and their prevalence in the elderly from the region of Alentejo. The results present the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors, mainly at the national level, compared to those at the regional level, with a small number of exclusive studies in the Alentejo region, while simultaneously disaggregating the results by age group. From the data obtained, it can be concluded that the prevalence of risk factors is generally increased in the elderly population and, consequently, in Alentejo, because it is a region in the interior of the country that is predominantly rural and very old.

Design of a Contact Assistive Robot for the Disabled, Elderly, and Infirm People

The use of a wheelchair for normal routines or rehabilitation has various physiological and psychological implications. The use of contact assistive robots in developing countries is limited mainly due to their expensive nature. The benefits of exoskeleton use include health improvement, increased self-dependency, and self-sustenance. The chapter offers a solution through the design of a cheap contact assistive robot for the disabled. The design procedure includes the integration of acquired knowledge on gait training and existing exoskeletons acquired from intense research, visits to rehabilitation centers, and use of computer-aided software for design and simulations. A fully functioning scaled prototype was made that demonstrated the operating principle of the actual design. The design provides a successful baseline for further development of exoskeletons suitable and cheaper for developing countries with an initial estimated total material cost of USD$9000.

Loneliness Among Rural Elderly

Population aging is a great challenge for modern societies at the future and is a central issue in the development of public policies. In Spain, in rural regions, the demographic problem of aging must be added to the problem of migration. In this context, a direct consequence of the union of aging and depopulation appears: loneliness of the elderly rural populations. Several studies indicate that loneliness has a significant association with increased use of medical services. These medical analyses need to be complemented with conceptualizations that integrate them into broader views that analyze structural causes and consequences. This text reviews the types of measurement scales proposed by the academy and lists some of the campaigns carried out by the administrations. The authors will attempt to take a critical approach, analyzing how individualized and medicalized visions of loneliness have been led.

Community-Led Ecosystem

In this chapter, the triangulation analysis of connections between older adults, relevant stakeholders, and community will be made in order to acknowledge the challenges resulting from demographic changes, identify the gaps in current health and social policy in the field of geriatric care, and outline the pathways for joint actions to achieve successful aging. This analysis will also consider health and health equity drivers, highlighting the relevance of the community-led ecosystem in the spreading and scaling up of the person-centered and integrated healthcare model. By focusing on frailty and frailty-related consequences, this chapter will reflect on the need for implementing joint actions that promote health throughout the lifecycle and that empower citizens for informed decision making. It will also discuss the role of modern societies in creating innovative solutions for successful aging.

Health Promotion and Wellness in Aging

The older population is growing and living longer than ever. That is why we must create more and more services suitable for this age group, so that it can grow old with quality of life. In order to better understand their needs and the type of intervention which can be implemented in the community to protect the health and wellbeing in this age group, from the age of 65, the authors have sought to identify and understand the synergies they can establish between health promotion and wellness in aging. To take this task forward, they focused their attention on five axes: principles of health promotion, social representations of aging, the focus on gender in the analysis of aging and health, empowering and wellbeing of older adults, and healthy aging in place. In this work they start from a bio-psycho-social-environmental view of aging and present the contributions of the psychological view for promoting health in aging. At the end, a reflexive synthesis will be carried out on the topics covered and suggestions will be presented to improve the health and wellbeing of aging in place.

Burnout Among Formal Caregivers and Risk of Violence Against Institutionalized Elderly

Sociodemographic changes occurring in past decades are reflected as increased population aging, resulting in a higher need to institutionalize elderly. Violence against elderly is a relevant public health problem. The aims of the present cross-sectional exploratory and descriptive study with a quantitative approach were to analyze burnout among formal caregivers at institutions for elderly and to assess the risk of violence against institutionalized elderly. As a part of project ESACA—Envelhecer com Segurança no Alentejo (Prevenir as Quedas e a Violência sobre Idosos)—Compreender para Agir (Aging Safely in Alentejo [Preventing Falls and Violence against Elderly]), the present study analyzed 34 formal caregivers from three institutions that provide care to elderly in the Evora district, Portugal. No situations involving violence against institutionalized elderly were detected. Most participants (96.3%) did not exhibit burnout, although they did report feeling physically and emotionally tired.

Rehabilitation Nursing Program for Elderly Functional Independence

To identify the gains in elderly functional independence through the implementation of the rehabilitation nursing program, a pilot study involving the quantitative, descriptive, and cross-sectional case study methodology was applied to an accidental sample of elderly people, with only two persons having completed the previously defined intervention program. The Rikli and Jones functional fitness test for older adults exercises, such as a rehabilitation nursing exercise program and the Barthel scale, were used to measure the functional independence of the elderly in the performance of activities of daily living. From the implementation of the rehabilitation nursing program to the elderly who concluded it in its entirety, the results show global gains in the functional aptitude program and an improvement in functional independence with gains in most activities of daily living. An improvement in the functional independence of elderly people who participated in the rehabilitation nursing program involving the functional fitness exercises of Rikli and Jones was verified.

Knowledge About HIV/AIDS

Generations of young people, adults, and the elderly have or have had different ways of acquiring knowledge about HIV/AIDS. The accessibility of information, the evolution of information technology, or the sexualized connotation can influence knowledge in the various generations. This chapter explores how these people have accessed that information.

Gains From the Rehabilitation of Nursing to the Elderly With the Mobility Deficit by Femur Fracture

The objective of this chapter is to identify the gains associated with rehabilitation nursing care implemented in the elderly person with mobility deficit of the fractured femur. An integrative literature review with a qualitative synthesis retrospectively by 2014 was used. Older femur fractures undergo physical changes that affect their motor function and cause dependence in their activities of daily living (ADLs). From the specialized intervention in rehabilitation nursing, sensitive gains in mobility, functional independence in ADLs, hospital admission and rehabilitation time, quality of life and mortality rate, and health expenditures emerge were found. Fracture of the femur is usually associated with a fall from a height and occurs mainly in independent females in ADLs. In this population, gains that are sensitive to rehabilitative nursing care are recognized in the scientific evidence. The rehabilitation nurse thus has a relevant role in the qualification and quality of life of the person, with evident implications in the elderly care, in an institutional and community context.