Relação entre qualidade de vida e estilo de vida de idosos residentes em Juiz de Fora-MG: uma investigação mista sequencial

Abstract

The increase in the elderly population brought the need to understand the aspects that influence the perception of the quality of life of this population. It is known that behaviors adopted as lifestyle can directly influence the way these individuals experience their old age. Objective: To investigate the quality of life and lifestyle of elderly residents of the municipality of Juiz de Fora in Minas Gerais. Method: This research was divided in two studies. 383 elderly people of both sexes over 60 years old participated on the First Step. The Medical Outcome Study 36-item Short Form (SF-36) was applied, with a sociodemographic and socioeconomic questionnaire. Descriptive and comparative analyzes were then performed. Subsequently, elderly individuals with higher and lower results, on the Summarized Physical Component (CFS) and the Summarized Mental Component (CMS), were selected for the Second Step. Thus, in this second study, 32 elderly people answered a semi-structured interview regarding the five components of lifestyle, namely: preventive behavior, nutritional factor, physical activity, quality of relationships and stress control. The interview was recorded and entirety transcribed, the categorical content analysis was performed. Results: In relation to Stage 1, men presented better quality of life than women. The practice of exercise and the ingestion of alcoholic beverages have also been shown to be related to better quality of life averages. On the other hand, the BMI, the greatest number of diagnosed diseases, socioeconomic situation and age advancement seemed to negatively affect the evaluation of the quality of life of this population. In Stage 2, it was observed that the participants with higher scores adopted strategies and curative strategies that avoided or delayed the appearance of the diseases. Regarding the nutritional factor, it was noticed that elderly people with a low quality of life assessment did not consider having a healthy diet, telling the difficulties encountered to do so. About physical exercises, among those who declared themselves inactive, the majority belonged to the groups that represented the lowest scores on the SF-36 components. Regarding the quality of the relationships, the elderly with high score in assessing the quality of life reported, good relationships, while the participants with the lowest scores showed a greater tendency to present family conflicts. As for stress management, the elderly with the highest quality of life scores were shown to be better able to deal with stressful situations while those with lower scores sought to avoid or reported having no strategies to deal with conflicting situations. Final considerations: Lifestyle has been shown to be an important factor influencing the perception of the quality of life of the elderly. Moreover, was possible to observe that, there are important peculiarities involved in the lifestyle of the elderly that must be considered in the elaboration of public policies and behaviors directed to this population.