Repositório RCAAP

The changes in the Portuguese society and the improvement of the living conditions of the population had positive impacts on the health outcomes of the Portuguese, which led to an improvement in life expectancy, greater longevity (to live longer) and, consequently, a progressive aging of the population . In this article, the challenges and opportunities of the demographic transition registered in Portugal.

With the increment of older population in Puerto Rico, exist the need to study this group to provide adequate services. depth interviews were performed to 10 married people with an average 53.25 years of marriage. Thematic that were analyze: the meaning of marriage in their lives, the strength of their relationship, marital communication, marital conflict, forgiveness, trust and the recommendations to future marriages. Finally, even though the spouses recognize the complexities in their marital relationship they also demonstrated to have a positive view on it.  

Our investigation aimed to infer that a specific program with proprioceptive physical exercises might improve functional balance associated to a improvement in executive functions in elderly. Future researches with a high number of participants and more accurate tools are recommended to confirm our findings. 

The study aimed to analyze the perception of older workers regarding their work and the insertion of technologies in their work activities. This is an analytical and cross-sectional study with a qualitative-quantitative approach involving 30 older workers with a mean age of 63.3 years. While recognizing their limitations and difficulties in the use of technologies in the workplace, older workers recognize the importance of their work and desire to remain employed. 

The article, after a brief reflection concerning the health status of aging individuals, elucidates on how the supplementary health system assists the aging population in Brazil, emphasizing the regulations implemented by the responsible agency related to the sector. These legal norms aim for the proper stabilization of a healthcare network based on prevention instead of only ailments treatments, alongside with an ample focus on the caregiver.  For such, risk stratification and functional capacity are highlighted as an indispensable foundation.  

This article aims to analyze the care practices in mental health of the elderly in Primary Health Care (PHC), based on the perceptions of professionals in the Family Health Strategy (FHS). It is a qualitative, exploratory-descriptive study, carried out in a city in of Ceará and with data collection that is opportunized through the application of semi-structured interviews with FHS professionals. The results showed that attention to Mental Health of the elderly in PHC is characterized by outpatient care practices and the presence of a conceptual transition in the vision about the aging process and Mental Health. It was verified the need for strategies that stress work with a focus on integral care and health promotion.

The objective of this study was to study the health profile of Seventh-day Adventist elderly who exceeded the average life expectancy. The study was transversal observational analytical. A total of 90 elderly people with an average age of 82.9 years participated in the study. The data collection consisted of the application of the following evaluation instruments: The mini mental state examination (MEEM), socio-demographic questionnaire to know the social profile; mini nutritional assessment (MAN), International Falls Efficiency Scale (FES). The basic activities of daily living (BADL) were assessed by the Katz functional scale and the Lawton and Brody Scale of instrumental activities of daily living (IADL). The majority of the elderly interviewed were white, married, with 7.3 years of education, retired, children of long-lived and male parents. The most prevalent disease was hypertension. The burden of disease was 3.2 diseases. The Katz Scale score was 6.3 ± 0.8 points, in the Lawton and Brody Scale of 25.1 ± 3.8, in the FES Scale was 24.7 ± 10.4 and in the MAN score of 11, 7 ± 1.3 points. There was no difference when men from women were compared. When the correlations between the studied variables were made, there were many significant but weak correlations. Only 4 correlations were considered moderate. Positive correlation between IADL and MEEM, between IADL and MAN, inverse correlation between IADL and FES and IADL and BADL. 

The objective of this study was to compare respiratory muscle strength in healthy elderly exercise practitioners in two media, soil and water. The sample consisted of 20 elderly of both genders, who were divided into two groups, GS (Soil Group) and GA (Water Group). The maximal inspiratory pressures (MIP) and maximal expiratory pressures (MEP) were evaluated using the manual manometer instrument. The results showed no significant changes in the respiratory muscles of both groups. 

A study carried out in ILPIs of Santa Maria-RS, with the objective of analyzing the dormitories, from systematic observations and propose architectural contributions. The cross-sectional study was descriptive exploratory type, using six ILPIs, three private and three philanthropic. Research instruments: systematic observations of behavior and the physical environment. The results demonstrated the need to design dormitories capable of attending the affective and functional aspects of the elderly, based on legal, architectural and from the users' point of view.Keywords: Elderly, Institutionalization, Architects.

This work aims to understand the use of Facebook digital media during the experience of illness, hospitalization and death. It is a qualitative research, through of Virtual Ethnography and narrative analysis. This practice contributed to: facilitate communication with family and friends; to reduce loneliness and isolation; strengthen bonds of friendship; recognize the virtual social network as a space for the constitution of a network of support and communication; demystify the use of social networks as exclusive spaces for leisure and entertainment. 

The present study conducted with retired residents from the city of Rio Claro-SP analyzed the level of leisure-time physical activity and the body mass index (BMI) over the prevalence of non-communicable chronic diseases (NCD). The International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) and the BMI were used to measure the variables. It was observed a relationship between age and NCD with emphasis on hypertension (50.3%) and depression (37.0%). 

The elderly population is growing and episodes of falls are becoming more frequent. In this article, an integrative review of the SciELO and LILACS databases was carried out between 2010 and 2015, in order to verify the profile of studies involving falls in the elderly. A total of 149 articles were included where the positive relation of the physical exercise was perceived. The most common risk factors were female sex, depression, old age, among others. The fracture was the most common consequence.  

This study sought to assess the level of physical activity, body mass index and the main perceived barriers that impede or hinder the practice of physical activity (insufficient leisure time, enough physical activity, lack of company, lack of money among others), as well as to know the sociodemographic profile of this population, in order to recognize possible deficiencies and propose new strategies that can subsidize the improvement in their quality of life. The study population-based cohort study was conducted from January 2014 to June 2015. The long version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire, the Barriers Questionnaire to practice physical activity and body weight/height were used to assess the level of activity physical, barriers and body mass index. The final sample consisted of 205 active participants of both sexes, in relation to body mass index participants had a median of 26.9 kg / m², resulting in a classification as overweight. To the level of physical activity in leisure domain 66.3% participants presented insufficiently active. And the 21 barriers, nine had increased relative to the increase in body mass index. Thus, it is important to highlight these aspects related to regular physical activity where barriers can be crossed if practitioners and policymakers implement programs toward this population aimed at encouraging this practice.Keywords: Retirement; Physical activity; Barriers to physical activity; Body mass index.

This study is an account of the experience of the Elderly Person's Pastoral, in which the successful experience of more than twenty thousand community leaders in our country who work voluntarily in favor of a healthier aging is worshiped. Considering that we live in a moment of human history in which we seek the utopia of different initiatives, new life projects, new experiments, but not far from the reality lived by the elderly, a new ideal of coexistence is at stake, which includes subjectivity, individual and collective, with increasing emphasis on fraternity and solidarity. 

The following paper presents a report of practical experience lived by students of Occupational Therapy in a Long Stay Institution for the Elderly (ILPI) in the interior of Rio Grande do Sul. The objective was the students experience in understanding the bond and the institutional context. This work reaffirms the importance of the link between professional and patient, so that adherence to the therapeutic proposals have greater understanding and acceptance, acting as facilitators of the daily routine of patients. 

This study portrays the impressions of two adult men who have experienced the insane process of one of their family members and make us confront what a healthy old age means and the reality of an old age accompanied by dependency. The aim here is to discuss, on the one hand, what healthy aging means, or independent and active, and, on the other hand, raise the question about the problematic that is experienced from the moment one of the members of a family is affected by some type of dependence and / or chronic illness, dementia, Alzheimer's  illnesses that require prolonged treatment, high financial cost and specific and continued care. Our reality shows that most families seek institutionalization when one of their members presents with dementia, without knowing for sure the changes that occur to their elderly, let alone how much care to take in this situation. Just as preserving identity in the aging process is a fundamental part of human existence, aging, in turn, guides changes in the family that require new knowledge to be acquired and applied to the new situations that come to be experienced. 

This study aimed to determine the prevalence rate of HIV in older adults. A cross-sectional study of 1,184 HIV-infected patients. In this group, 1,091 (92.15%) patients were aged < 60 years and 93 (7.85%) ≥ 60 years. The mean prevalence rate of HIV detected in the ≥ 60 years group was 1.66± 0.54 per 100,000 population (1.05± 0.43 in men and 0.61 ± 0.29 in women). The epidemiological profile of elderly patients with HIV was characterized by: males, low levels of schooling, white and heterosexual people.  

This paper presents reflections on the role of the Gerontologist in Palliative Care (PC), based on a university course. The aim is to present a panorama about PC and the relation with the formation of the Gerontologist, besides describing how was the development of the course, and to reflect on the role of this professional in different levels of management in PC. The reflections showed that the Gerontologist can play a key role in CP, performing in the management and evaluation of public policies, in specialized services or not, and directly with the patient, caregivers and social support network, always with the entire multiprofessional team. 

Com grande satisfação apresentamos o volume 20(2), desta revista, com um total de 25 trabalhos em 2 modalidades: 22 artigos científicos, 3 relatos de experiência, ainda mais que, tributariamente aos esforços da Reitoria da PUC-SP, todos estão identificados com seu DOI.O título deste Editorial tenta dizer do vigor, do entusiasmo, com que vêm sendo produzidos escritos sobre o envelhecimento, submetidos para publicação neste periódico, constituindo cada um o resultado de pesquisas, reflexões, experiências, levadas a efeito por pesquisadores de diversas áreas e universidades de várias regiões do Brasil e do exterior. Os trabalhos recebidos por esta revista são gerados, via de regra, por Universidades Federais e Estaduais, mas o que nos vem surpreendendo é que, cada vez mais, nos cheguem artigos de universidades particulares, algumas vocacionais ou de âmbito religioso, o que nos evidencia o quanto a emergente problemática do envelhecimento está sendo pesquisada nesse âmbito. Salta-nos aos olhos a formação eclética que hoje se observa dos autores: a graduação em uma área do conhecimento, o mestrado, o doutorado, o pós-doutorado em outras áreas que se interfaciam com a primeira em termos de concentração em uma temática similar de pesquisa voltada à problemática do envelhecimento. Seriamos a seguir os 25 trabalhos deste volume 20(2):

The practice of physical exercises, such as the Pilates (MP) method, has been considered as adjuvant therapy in maintaining autonomy and independence of the elderly. The objective of the study was to analyze, through a systematic review, the influence of MP on the functional capacity of the elderly. The MP, according to the analyzed works, promoted significant improvements in the functional autonomy of the elderly. However, there is a need of more studies, since works with this subject are scarce.