Avaliação psicogeriátrica e institucionalização

  • Ana Sofia da Silva Magalhães (Student)

Student thesis: Master's Thesis

Abstract

Studies on aging have occupied a prominent place in the field of psychology of aging, in that the physical, psychological and social changes interact uninterruptedly, where each one affects and is affected. On the other hand, the demographic, social and economic changes had led some families to transfer the responsibility of taking care of older people to the nursing homes. However, the institutionalization of elderly people in nursing homes leads to changes in the physical, psychological and social balance, being more prone to isolation, depression, cognitive decline and greater mobility problems. This study assumes that there are significant variations related to the passage of time and state of health, autonomy and independence levels in institutionalized elderly. Specifically, seeks to understand how the passage of time (from November / December to April / May) influence the functionality of the institutionalized elderly. The present study was conducted among 24 institutionalized elders in Santa Casa da Misericordia de Penafiel. The participants answered to the Psychogeriatric Assessment Scales (Fonseca et al., 2008) for the psychogeriatric assessment, namely health, depression and cognition. The main results show that contrary to what was expected, in the stroke scale, in April / May, institutionalized elderly shows an improvement in terms of cerebrovascular health compared to November / December. With regard to the Depression scale, should be noted the presence of a progressive decline in the mood with the passage of time. Regarding the Cognitive Impairment, most participants, with the passage of time, showed the greatest difficulties in memory and other cognitive functions. However, these differences are probably not significant due to the short period of time elapsed. The results are discussed in light of the literature on institutionalization as a risk factor in the functionality of the elderly.
Date of AwardJul 2012
Original languagePortuguese
Awarding Institution
  • Universidade Católica Portuguesa
SupervisorAntónio Manuel Fonseca (Supervisor)

Designation

  • Mestrado em Psicologia

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