Relações entre irmãos que têm pais idosos acolhidos numa instituição

: conflitos e sua resolução

Abstract

This is a theoretic and practical work which approaches conflicts among siblings who have aged parents in some way dependent on an old people care institution. In a time when it is increasing the number of old people that live in such institutions, it is important to understand the underlying family relationships and at what extent this kind of situation leads to conflicts among the involved individuals, as well as the ways they follow to solve them. It is absolutely necessary to perceive if affection bonds fade away or get stronger as time goes by. This work includes not only institution resident aged people’s sons and daughters, but also the ones whose parents only attend elderly day care centers in order to understand if there are important differences between these two groups. The main criterion for the selection of participants in this study was based on the fact that all of them are part time care givers. The general aim of the work is to perceive the kind of relationship that these individuals have with their siblings, if it is or not quarrelsome and if they consider family mediation a good and effective way to solve that problem. Several types of conflict that arouse among siblings have been presented, namely on which concerns care giver role and economical and patrimonial issues. The methodologies adopted were quantitative and qualitative, and initial questionnaires were applied in order to get a sample, being necessary to make interviews to deepen some questions. Finally, conclusions were withdrawn which allowed us to know accurately the studied population. Consequently new investigation paths were suggested as well as the grounds on which institutions can intervene so that a better old people’s quality of life and their family’s can be possible.

Date of Award	2012
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Rita Lobo Xavier (Supervisor) & Maria José Eusébio (Co-Supervisor)