O mundo-vida da pessoa idosa em Instituição de longa Permanência: uma perspectiva etnográfica

Abstract

In the global process of aging, contemporary situations, such as changes in family structures and the entry of women into the labor market, have promoted a reduction in the possibility of residential care for the elderly, focusing on increasing the demand for homes for the aged. In this context, the process of institutionalization in homes for the aged is escorted by transformations in the experience of the elderly. Thus, this study aimed to understand the experience of the elderly in homes for the aged. Was used as a approach theoretical-methodological the Ethnography based on Interpretative Anthropology of Geertz. As the main technical data collection was done Participant Observation in a homes for the aged located in southern Minas Gerais, ethical issues were observed. The interpretive essay was subsidized by the theoretical framework of Goffman, revealing aspects of the intimate life of the institution and of the consequences of the construction of the self elder who resides in it and is expressed in three dimensions: the transition of the family institution for the total institution: the experience depersonalization; resistance to conformity: experience of the adjustment, and determined to live in a world determined: the dynamics of homes for the aged. The first dimension highlighted the process of losing the uniqueness that the elderly person suffers with onset in pre admission period, as the terminator removal of the family context and society. The next dimension referred to the coping strategies adopted by the institutionalized elderly, arranged from a few tactical adaptation, all of which are prepared with a view to safeguarding their uniqueness. Finally, the third dimension emphasized the dynamics of homes for the aged, recognizing its structure and professional practice factors related to and elder responses to the institutionalization process. Although society prepare citizens and yearn for exercising their autonomy, it seems that the homes for the aged, in the institutionalization process of the elderly, walks in opposite direction, featuring a contradiction to curtail their freedom, autonomy and independence. Therefore, it is imperative that social policies consider factors in the intrinsic structure and social strategy of the institution as impacting the quality of life of the elderly, their families and why not of Brazilian society.