Contribuições da Gerontologia para atenção à saúde da população idosa LGBTQIAP+

Abstract

Human aging is understood as a natural process of life, of a biopsychosocial and heterogeneous nature, requiring a critical and reflective look at its uniqueness and specificity. With the occurrence of demographic and epidemiological transition, population aging and alteration of family functions over the years, in Brazil we can see a decrease in the fertility, birth rate and death rate, therefore increasing life expectancy and longevity and showing how much representative the phenomenon of population aging has been in the country. Faced with this, the great challenge of guaranteeing dignified aging arises, encompassing its individual and collective spheres, which in turn requires recognizing the diversity of old ages and delving into the specificities of each individual who ages in the Brazilian context; then, the gerontologist stands out – a generalist professional with a critical, reflective and humanistic view – who is able to act in the management of aging. Therefore, priority was given to deepening issues of old age in the LGBTQIAP+ population, in order to investigate how Brazilian public policies, information systems, gerontological assessment instruments and the professional gerontologist understand, encompass and act upon the demands of this segment of society. This is a qualitative, exploratory and descriptive study, in which data collection consisted of a literature review on the diversity of old age, highlighting LGBTQIAP+ community, and the dimensions contained in Brazilian public policies that deal with their right to health , in the survey of information about the health of the elderly using the SISAP-Idoso indicator system, in the documental analysis in gerontological assessment instruments and semi-structured interviews with bachelors in Gerontology (n=6). As for the results, there was a methodological difficulty due to the small number of studies about intersectionality in the present research, the scarcity of public policies specifically aimed at this population segment, the invisibility of indicator systems and gerontological assessment instruments and the lack of preparation of the professional gerontologist to meet the specific demands of LGBTQIAP+ old ages. The findings reinforce that, even in the 21st century and with several advances, there are still barriers and gaps that hinder the articulation between old age and diversity and that, in a way, Gerontology has the potential to contribute positively to healthy and active aging and to guaranteeing the quality of life for LGBTQIAP+ elderly people.