Estudo dos fatores associados ao envelhecimento bem-sucedido de idosos da comunidade de Barra Funda-RS, Brasil

• Ano de defesa: 2007
• Autor(a) principal: Rosa, Luis Henrique Telles da
• Orientador(a): Machado, Denise Cantarelli
• Tipo de documento: Tese
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: por
• Instituição de defesa: Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul; Porto Alegre
• Palavras-chave em Português: GERONTOLOGIA; GERIATRIA; ENVELHECIMENTO; ESPIRITUALIDADE
• Link de acesso: http://hdl.handle.net/10923/3618

Introduction: The demographic and epidemiological changes that happened in the last few years led to the realization of a series of studies related to aging. The concept of successful aging (SA) is associated with the maintain of cognitive and physical functions, low deficiency associated to diseases, and a positive commitment towards life. Purpose: The proposal of this study was to identify the factors associated to a well-succeeded aging in elderly people from Barra Funda, Rio Grande do Sul (RS) – Brazil. Methodology: The study was observational using transversal outlining. The population was composed 218 subjects with by elderly from the of Barra Funda-RS (88 men and 130 women). The following instruments were used: questionnaires in order to obtain the epidemiological and demographic data, the Barthel index and the Lawton scale to evaluate the functional capacity, was used to evaluate the cognitive capability the Mini Exam of Mental State. Social support, spirituality and resilience with specific scales were also evaluated. The data were analyzed using the SPSS version 11. 5. A 5% significance level was adapted. The associations between the quantitative variables were evaluated Pearson Correlation Coefficient, and between the categorical variables, the Chi-Square test was applied. The independent variables associated to well-succeeded aging were determined by means of a discriminatory analysis. Results: The elderly people were categorized into two groups: one with normal or usual aging and the other with well-succeeded aging. The elderly people who declared absence of chronic diseases, who were independent in relation to functional capacity, who had absence of cognitive deficit, presented spiritual well being, social support and high resilience were considered of well-succeeded aging. Therefore, 30. 3% of the subjects who were evaluated were classified as presenting SA. With the use of discriminatory analysis, the stepwise method, it was noticed that the discriminatory variables between the normal aging and the well-succeeded one were the number of comorbidities claimed by the elderly, the instrumental activities in their daily routines, the cognitive capacity and the resilience. The successful aging showed association with schooling ( 2=22. 491 and p<0. 001), age ( 2=11. 725 and p= 0. 003) and with the number of comorbidities or diseases ( 2=32. 721 and p<0. 001). The elderly with successful aging presented a higher average regarding Barthel, Lawton, social support, religious and spiritual well being and in the Mini Mental test. The age average of the elderly with normal aging was higher than of the elderly with SA. There was a positive correlation between resilience and social support (r=0. 891 and p<0. 001) and spiritual well being (r=0. 783 and p<0. 001). Conclusion: the results obtained in this study confirm the assumptions about SA presented by Rowe and Kahn. The diseases (number of comorbidities) reduce the chances of a SA while resilience, cognitive capacity and the instrumental activities of a daily routine protect the SA.