Qualidade de vida dos idosos na estratégia saúde da família: um estudo sob duas óticas

Abstract

This research deals with the issue of quality of life of elderly people in the Family Health Strategy, considering the participation of a group of senior citizens in the health promotion actions developed in the neighborhood of Igapó, Natal-RN. It was aimed at analyzing the quality of life of a group of senior citizens, in two different periods, based on the SF-36 (Medical Outcomes Study 36 - Item Short - Form Health Survey); and analyzing the view of elderly people with regard to the effects of health promotion actions for their quality of life. This is a longitudinal and descriptive/exploratory study, which was performed in two steps, embodying different and complementary viewpoints. In the first step, we used a quantitative approach, measuring the quality of life, from certain parameters. In the second step, we used a qualitative approach, bringing the view of elderly people about the analyzed object “lived” and its repercussions. Data were collected by applying questionnaires and holding focal group, and then they were analyzed by the softwares Microsoft Excel 2013 and Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), 20.0. We adopted the WilcoxonTest to check the significance among the differences of data. Moreover, we used the thematic content analysis. The project was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of HUOL/ UFRN (Opinion nº 562.318 and CAAE: 21996313.7.0000.5537). The results confirm changes in the quality of life according to the domains in the physical, functional and mental aspects. In addition, the listening of the group has vocalized situations that allow us to recognize improvements in the quality of life. We hope that this research may contribute to the strengthening of health promotion actions as potential driving practices directed towards the changes in the quality of life.