A percepção de idosos do Vila Dignidade de Araraquara- SP: relação entre moradia adequada e capacidade funcional

Abstract

Population aging imposes demands on Brazilian cities in order to look at the needs of human beings from the perspective of old age. The number of elderly people living in urban areas has increased in recent decades. In addition, a good part of this age group is choosing or being led to live alone, a trend that will remain in the coming years, due to the increase in life expectancy and changes in family arrangements. Linked to this reality, human aging occurs in a heterogeneous way, resulting in different profiles of people in this stage of life. Optimizing the Functional Capacity of the elderly has been an important issue in public policies, due to its direct impact on independence and quality of life, providing healthy and active aging. According to this scenario, the adequacy of housing is urgent. Adequate housing is a constitutional right, which is not restricted to a roof and four walls, but highlights the gathering of other aspects, for example the good location, in order to enable the residents to meet their needs. Still, it is essential that housing is accessible, both physically and economically. It is up to the State to intervene through housing policies, to offer quality and safe housing to disadvantaged population groups, such as low-income elderly people. In the state of São Paulo, there are initiatives to respond to this demand. The Vila Dignidade Program has the purpose of offering housing in small villages, suitable according to the precepts of Universal Design, for independent, low-income elderly people who are alone. In this scenario, the objective of the study was to analyze whether the housing conditions of the Vila Dignidade de Araraquara Program reflect on the functional capacity of its beneficiaries. It is a cross-sectional, descriptive, quantitative-qualitative research. Data collection was performed using the Brazilian Oars Multidimensional Functional Assessment Questionnaire (BOMFAQ) instrument and semi-structured interviews to obtain socioeconomic information and residents' perceptions. Data verification was performed through simple descriptive statistical analysis, and for qualitative ones, content analysis was used. The results indicated that the interviewees do not have a severe commitment to carry out daily activities, and that the reported difficulties are mainly related to health conditions and not directly to the built space of the condominium. Regarding the participants' perception of housing in Vila Dignidade, it was noted that the subjective aspects of adequate housing are well attended to in this public policy. However, problems in living conditions have been reported, such as slippery and brittle floors, which can compromise the Functional Capacity of the elderly, in addition to the effectiveness of this housing complex, whose final proposal is to prevent asylum.