Os cuidadores informais e as quedas na população idosa

: intervenção de enfermagem comunitária

Abstract

Population aging is a reality worldwide. The changes inherent in it led to the occurrence of falls, which are a public health problem, with complications that contribute to the increase of the index of dependence of the communities. The phenomenon of falls in the elderly in the home and their prevention are of interest for community nursing, particularly in the context of continuous integrated care where, together with informal caregivers, the self-care of the elderly is promoted. In the Integrated Continuing Care Team in the Community Care Unit at the place where the internship took place, there was an increase in the number of admissions for fractures associated with falls, which led to the development of a community intervention project, based on in the methodology of health planning, in articulation with Orem's theory of self-care deficit. The situation diagnosis allowed identifying as priority problems, the lack of knowledge about risk factors and fall prevention measures, in a group of 10 informal caregivers of elderly people accompanied by the team. The objective of the project was to contribute to the optimization of the environmental safety of elderly people 's housing, accompanied by the team, by improving the health literacy of informal caregivers, on risk factors and prevention of falls in the elderly at home. To this end, strategies were selected as health education, multidisciplinary involvement and mobilization of community resources. As a result, the informal caregiver literacy was improved. The nursing team confirmed the implementation of some fall prevention measures by informal caregivers and recognized the importance of this type of project, expressing motivation to continue it. The activities developed allowed the development of the necessary skills to the nurse specialist in community nursing and the project contributed to complement and systematize the intervention in this problem, with the creation of a checklist of environmental risk factors for falls in the elderly at home that complements the assessment of the risk of falling, at the time of admission; the improvement of health literacy among informal caregivers; the promotion of a safe environment in the homes of the elderly.

Date of Award	29 Oct 2019
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Elisa Maria Bernardo Garcia (Supervisor)