A solidão e a pessoa idosa institucionalizada

Abstract

This report falls under an internship conducted in a long-term care facility, Santa Catarina Labouré, which belongs to Casas São Vivente de Paulo. This internship, in addition of providing a closer contact with the day-to-day work of the Social Workers, and with the reality of an institutionalization, opened space for a reflection on the experience of loneliness within an institution. Although the experience of loneliness derives from multiple factors, it is also very subjective due to the fact that the perception and experiences of the older people who are institutionalized are very different and unique. There for, the direct contact with the older people in the institution allowed me to understand the complexities and causes of this feeling, as well as a definition of a possible approach from the institution in relation to the elder person, whom feels lonely. This report contains five chapters. The first chapter justifies the internship and describes the objectives, the used methodology. The second one contains a characterization of the institution and its valences and activities pursued throughout the internship. The third chapter is an analysis between the concept of loneliness and the experience of institutionalization. The penultimate chapter is a balance between the goals that were set and the goals that were achieved. The same chapter also presents some proposals for a targeted intervention for the issue throughout this report, loneliness. The fifth, and last chapter, is the result of a reflection on the whole experience gained during the internship.

Date of Award	19 Dec 2013
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Henrique Manuel Marques Joaquim (Supervisor)