Valorização dos saberes das pessoas idosas, uma estratégia de empowerment

Abstract

Aging has become a worldwide phenomenon and one of the characteristics of contemporary societies. The study addresses the theme – Valuing the Knowledge of Elderly People, an empowerment strategy . This aims to identify the knowledge and skills of the elderly, and to list the collective strategies carried out for their integration into the family and community. It is also intended to understand whether education in Active Aging promot structures that materialize the idea of lifelong learning. Locally based associations and senior academies, can be a mechanism capable of conceiving the Empowerment of the elderly , as a right to citizenship. It is also important to question why Active Aging acquires relevance for Social Work.
It is interesting for the theoretical conduct of this research to understand Active Aging, which is concerned with aspects related to the process of optimizing opportunities for health, social participation and security in order to increase the quality of life as people age. Thus, and in order to achieve the proposed objective, we first proceeded to the construction of the theoretical framework that is based on five structuring axes: i) Active and Healthy Aging; ii) Education and Lifelong Learning iii) Participation, Associativism and Senior Academies; iv) Participation and Rights of the Elderly; v) Social Service in intervention with Elderly People.
The study is supported by a comprehensive approach that uses the qualitative method. The data collection instrument used was the semi-structured interview and, later , the content analysis was performed. The universe of analysis includes 4 professionals in the field of aging, and 10 elderly people, aged between 55 and 85 years, users of equipment of a social and educational nature, a senior gym. The results of the analysis point to the need for a change in the creation of equipment and mechanisms of participation and citizenship, where the elderly can have the opportunity to maintain an active and healthy life, investing in health, education, culture and leisure, participation social and security. It also becomes visible the importance of rethinking the role of the elderly and their importance to society, as well as the promotion of their rights focused on society's responsibilities towards the elderly

Date of Award	29 Jun 2023
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Isabel Vieira (Supervisor)