Differences between the profiles of institutionalized elderly people and those on waiting lists and who do not want to be institutionalized

Caracterização das condições de vida entre idosos de Instituições de Longa Permanência de um município de médio porte do Nordeste brasileiro

Objetivo: descrever o perfil sociodemográfico, clínico e de institucionalização de pessoas idosas residentes em Instituições de Longa Permanência. Métodos: estudo transversal, documental, desenvolvido em cinco Instituições de Longa Permanência para Idosos de um município do Estado do Ceará, Brasil. Utilizou-se nos meses de julho a setembro de 2019, um formulário para identificar nos prontuários os referidos perfis. Os dados foram submetidos à análise descritiva. Resultados: do total de 157 pessoas idosas institucionalizadas, a maioria eram mulheres (57,9%), com idade entre 71 e 80 anos (42,1%), solteiras (52,2%), analfabetas (49%), renda de um salário-mínimo (90,4%), com 1 a 4 filhos (34,4%). As condições clínicas encontradas foram a deficiência visual e/ou auditiva grave não corrigida (14,7%), doenças reumáticas ou neurológicas que dificultavam a movimentação das mãos (16,6%), diabetes mellitus (18,5%), doença de Alzheimer (14%) e de Parkinson (0,6%). O uso contínuo de medicação foi identificado em 87,9% das pessoas idosas e 84,7% delas não tinham registros de hospitalizações nos últimos 12 meses. O principal motivo para a institucionalização foi a dificuldade de suporte familiar (56%), o tempo de permanência na instituição era entre um e três anos (42,1%) e 63,7% das pessoas idosas recebiam visitas de familiares e amigos. Conclusões: os perfis expressados na pesquisa subsidiam necessidades de atenção à saúde e de apoio social ao idoso institucionalizado.

Self-reported morbidities, nutritional characteristics, and associated factors in institutionalized and non-institutionalized older adults

BACKGROUND

As the world's population ages and people live longer, it seems important to ensure that older people have a good quality of life and positive subjective well-being. The objective of this study is to determine socio-economic, health and nutritional characteristics of institutionalized and non-institutionalized elders in the province of Marrakech.

METHODS

This study was conducted among 368 older adults in the province of Marrakech between March 2017 and June 2019. Of all participants, 180 older adults reside in a public institution and 188 of them live in their own homes. Data on health conditions, nutritional status, functional and socio-economic characteristics were collected. Data was analyzed using SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 16.0. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05.

RESULTS

Institutionalized elders were illiterate (80.0%), had low incomes (95.5%), and unmarried (73.3%), they reported also no children (56.1%) and no health insurance (98.9%). Institutional residents suffered from malnutrition (22.2%), hearing impairments (35.6%) and severe edentulism (43.3%). There was no significant difference between both groups on daily activities and depression. A multivariate analysis identified a model with three significant variables associated with non-institutionalized elders: health insurance (P = 0.001; OR = 107.49), number of children (P = 0.001; OR = 1.74) and nutritional status (p = 0.001; OR = 3.853).

CONCLUSIONS

This study shows that the institutionalization of older adults is considerably induced by various factors such as nutritional problems, lack of health insurance and family structure. To mitigate the effects of this phenomenon, home care strategies and preventive actions should be implemented to delay the institutionalization of older adults and therefore keep them socially active in their own homes.

Characterization of long-term care facilities for the elderly in the metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte

Abstract Objective: to characterize Long Term Care Facilities for the Elderly (LTCFs) from the Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil in terms of administrative and care aspects. Method: an exploratory, quantitative study was conducted in the MRBH, with primary and secondary sources used to map the LTCFs. A structured questionnaire was used for characterization, and data was collected between November 2014 and December 2015 through telephone contact and site visits to the LTCFs. A descriptive statistical analysis of the data was subsequently performed. Results: the 156 participating institutions included private and mixed institutions, with predominantly female residents with dependency levels I and II, and elevated levels of occupation. Philanthropic LTCFs directly receive the retirement pensions of the elderly persons, although most also receive a government grant. The results in terms of activities offered were similar for the philanthropic and private facilities, while the staff of the private facilities had more health professionals and the philanthropic facilities had more social workers and psychologists. Conclusions: there was significant participation among the LTCFs, despite the limiting factors of the study such as the data collection instrument and strategy. It is important to prioritize the elderly when creating policies to improve care for institutionalized individuals, as well as facilitating interlocution between LTCFs to minimize the abandonment of state participation.