Habitar na pandemia: a influência da arquitetura nas condições de bem-estar domiciliar das mulheres idosas

Abstract

The context of the Covid-19 pandemic and the social distancing resulting from it brought changes in the way of living, modifying the relationships of individuals with housing, and exposing the deficiencies of Brazilian residential architecture. At the same time, in Brazil, the family structure has been changing and showing an expansion of the elderly population, with most of these elderly people being female. In the current scenario, it is important to understand the perceptions and influence that the home provides for the psychological health of elderly women and for their well-being. The main objective of the research is to understand, through what motivation elderly women to carry out renovations in their homes during the pandemic period, the perception of these women about the influence of the built environment on their well-being. In order to meet the objectives, initially an interpretative bibliographic research was carried out, through a literature review that dealt with the main concepts worked in the research; later, empirical data were collected through online interviews with ten elderly women who carried out renovations in their homes in the city of Juiz de Fora; finally, the results were analyzed using the discourse analysis method. After the completion of this study, it was possible to perceive three main motivations for carrying out the reforms by the elderly, namely: change in routine caused by social distancing; search for identity in the built environment; and the search for improvements in the conditions for carrying out instrumentals activities of daily living (IADL). The results obtained in this research showed that elderly women consciously perceive the influence of the built environment on their well-being and quality of life conditions and reaffirms what has already been exposed in some studies on the subject: that the elements of the built environment that are capable of promoting well-being in this public go beyond the topics relevant to environmental comforts - light, thermal, acoustic and tactile aspects -, commonly treated in research that assess well-being in housing, also covering issues concerning the identity and the memory.