Vulnerabilidade de queda em idosos: estudo de método misto

Abstract

Convergent mixed method research conducted in the homes of the elderly.The objective was to analyze the vulnerability and risk of falls for people aged ≥ 60 years, to evaluate the quality of life of the elderly, and to understand the Social Representations about the risk of falls. Sample by complete selection. Inclusion criteria were: elderly individuals aged ≥ 60 years who had some risk factor or vulnerability to falls, and all elderly people over 80 years of age; residing in the family health strategy coverage area (FHS) of the basic health unit (BHU) that the data were collected; be lucid; agree to participate unpaid and voluntary. Data were collected through closed interviews, in a semistructured survey-type survey, the data were analyzed with the support of SPSS (descriptive statistics), EVOC (prototype analysis TRS). All the ethical and legal criteria involving research with human beings were achieved. There were 100 elderly people characterized: 76% women; 51% age ≥75 years; 42% category "other" (stable and comrade union); 89% with children; 79% with years of study ≤5. Regarding the risk factors for falls: 36% had ≥ 80 years; 38% had five additional comorbidities; 61% polypharmacy; 20% had a recent or recurrent hospital discharge history; 40% needed help to develop daily life activity (DLA); 32% had fractures; 30% family insufficiency; 15% instability; 17% urinary incontinence; 8% fecal incontinence, locomotor instability 50%, and cognitive impairment 10%. When investigating the functional clinical vulnerability profile: 22% had low vulnerability, 22% had an increased risk for vulnerability, and 56% had vulnerability or fragility. Regarding quality of life, the lowest mean values were related to functional capacity (58.48%), physical aspect limitation (54.4%) and emotional aspects (56.4%). The symbolic components emerging from the structural approach of social representations were: self-referential saliencies "fear; pain-hurt; nothing"; saliences linked to the event and its treatment "fall-fall; god-faith; health professionals "; and those bound to the consequences "bone-broken; disease-passing; house-hospital ". The symbolic representational and symbolic contents on falls allowed to identify and understand intrapersonal, interpersonal, and extrapersonal stressors, which contributes to the nurses work in the care of the elderly with vulnerability and risk of falls.