Sentir-se abandonado

: pessoas com mais de 80 anos

Abstract

This research focuses on the subjective experiences of people over 80 years old, a population group that is currently the fastest growing in the world, whose longevity represents a civilizational achievement. At the same time, the value of the human life of older people is increasingly diminished by societies. It became pertinent to develop a study about what is lived by people over 80 years old, with the objective of understanding the meaning of Feeling Abandoned. And as a purpose: to contribute to the development of nursing knowledge by proposing a comprehensive prototheory of existential nursing care to people over 80 years old. Methodology - Hermeneutic phenomenological approach for understanding the meaning of the lived experiences of the participants, people between 80 and 97 years old obtained through phenomenological interviews in their homes. Discussion and results - The meaning of the lived experiences reveal that after the age of 80, in order to feel his existence meaningful the human being needs to affect and feel affected by the affections and values shared in the relationships of belonging built during their existence. Such findings reveal that longevity seen from the strictly biological point of view comprises a subjective dimension of abandonment of human existence. The meaning of feeling abandoned - person over 80 years old, is constituted around three themes: Existential well-being, Lack of existential well-being, and Existential nursing care. The state of feeling abandoned results from the perception that the person's core relationship with his/her locus or relationship of belonging, which he/she defines him/herself, has been defined or extinguished, based on the feeling of diminishing or lack of value assigned to his/her human existence, to his/her status of being, which prevents him/her from enjoying a meaningful life. Conclusion - As the elderly population increases, and their individual subjective complex needs grow proportionally, understanding of what it means to feel abandoned, points to people to feel permanently connected to life, to perceive their life as meaningful, to themselves, to others, and to the world. At the same time, they need a matrix of existential nursing care which is operationalized in therapeutic nursing presence, centered on the person, his/her meanings, and subjective need to feel humanely valued as a being-in-the-world, regardless of his/her chronological age and functional capacities. As it is based on their expectations towards nursing care it may support individualized, sensitive care and high human competence which is recognized and necessary in nursing care for people over 80 years of age.

Date of Award	18 Sept 2023
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	José Joaquim Penedos Amendoeira (Supervisor)