Dissertação
Percepção de trabalhadores sobre conflitos interpessoais com idosos institucionalizados
Fecha
2019-10-30Autor
Gewehr, Melissa
Institución
Resumen
The institutionalization of the elderly portrays a reality triggered by epidemiological,
demographic, health and social issues. The presence of institutional routines delineate the
occurrence and intensity of conflicts. Such problematic is part of the daily care of
professionals who work in this place. This study has the main aim: analyze the perception of
workers of a long-term care institution for the elderly about the occurrence of interpersonal
conflicts with institutionalized elderly. And as specific objectives: describe the situations of
interpersonal conflict in the daily life of institutionalized elderly and describe how workers
deal with the interpersonal conflict situations of institutionalized elderly. This is a
exploratory, descriptive and qualitative research conducted in a long-term care institution for
the elderly located in the central region of the state of Rio Grande do Sul. Data were collected
through semi-structured interviews whoose data were analysed with the thematic content
analysis of Minayo operative proposal. The research was approved with Certificate of
Presentation for Ethical Appreciation 67059417.5.0000.5346. ILPI has operating standards
and includes services, including laundry that takes care of sanitizing, conserving, maintaining
and controlling the institution's trousseau and the clothes of the elderly. The data
demonstrated a naturalization, by the workers, of the process of “mortification of the self”
suffered by the elderly and triggered by institutionalization. Conflict situations emerge due to
the resistance of the elderly to this process: against the loss of identity, autonomy, privacy,
individuality and freedom. In these attempts at resistance, disputes arise over spaces of
identity and affronts to masculinity. The workers perceive these attempts as manifestations of
dissatisfaction of the elderly with the service of professionals, with the food offered and in
other areas of the institution. Other situations of conflict occur when the elderly behave in an
altered manner due to the presence of dementia symptoms and their attitudes are contradicted
by others. To deal with various conflicts, workers use argumentation and persuasion as
approaches to dialogue. The purposes of dialogue vary from warnings, conciliations, and
negotiations. Faced with the lack of these strategic resources, they employ coercion. Faced
with the existence of recurring conflicts with physical violence, even involving threats to life,
professionals use distances to drive them away and withdraw of sharp objects.. It is concluded
that the trivialization of the “mortification of the self” inflicted on the elderly by current
norms - such as “the laundry of identities” - makes it impossible a final settlement of conflicts
by workers' strategies: perpetuating the occurrence of conflicts.