Disease versus health: how the elderly perceive themselves within these concepts

Abstract

This article has the objective to check if old people see themselves as sick/sad beings and if such condition affects their daily routine. So, we realized a research with 100 old individuals from a city of Pernambuco’s inside, with ages that varied from 60 to 97 years old, and preserved mental condition (without dementia or any other disease that damages lucidity). We used a semi-structured interview script with questions about the individuals’ lives contexts, and a second part with words/phrases, in which the participants associated different age groups (childhood, young hood, adulthood, old age). The interviews occurred in the individuals’ residence. The results show that old people put themselves in an age group that gets sicker, even because a disease interferes and changes their daily routine. This turns them sad especially because of the felling of inutility caused by the disease. Those results can create a space for discussion about the lives conditions of old individuals nowadays.