Estudo sobre a convivência com crianças e a esperança de idosos

Abstract

The increase in longevity, epidemiologic transition and the sociocultural changes affect family structure and make the intergenerational interactions more frequent. Therefore the coexistence of senior persons and children significantly increases and can trigger positive and/or negative elements affecting the quality of life of both groups. Studies indicate that living with children can be a source of social support or a burden related to the overload with care and responsibilities placed on the elderly. Given the aforementioned, this study purported to identify association between the hopefulness level of the elderly and the presence of children in the household. The study was descriptive, qualitative and cross-sectional. The participants in this research were elderly persons living with other senior persons registered at the Family Health Program Units (FHUs) in the municipality of São Carlos – São Paulo state, split into two groups, denominated as follows (a) Group of senior persons living with other senior persons and children (n=18), (b) Groups of senior persons living with other elderly but not living with children (n=18). The data was collected by means of interviews with the following instruments: (a) Elderly Characterization Record and (b) Herth Hope Index. The data collected were input into a databank in the software Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) for Windows to perform descriptive analyses to characterize the demographic and hope profile of the elderly; Pearson Chi-Square Test to compare the proportion of the variables gender, schooling and socio-economic level Mann-Whitney Test to compare the average ages of the groups; Mann-Whitney Test to identify the association between the variables hope of the elderly and the presence of children in the household. The ethical guidelines regarding research with human beings were thoroughly respected. The full scores of the groups not living with children was 38.39 points (DP=5.95, xmin=27.00, xmax=48.00) and the group living with children was 43.39 (DP=4.45, xmin=31.00, xmax=48.00). This difference was significant (U=81.000, p=0.010). Therefore, the hopefulness of the group living with children was higher than in the group not living with children. In this way, the results can serve as a basis for the creation of projects and services with an emphasis on the intergenerational relations of the elderly and children, maximizing the benefits and intervening in the negative points, collaborating to increase the quality of life of both parties.