Family and social vulnerability: a study with octogenarians

Abstract

In order to guide the development of dementia-related public policies for the elderly, it is important to identify factors that vary together with the social vulnerability of this population. This study aimed to identify the relationship between the São Paulo Social Vulnerability Index (IPVS) and various indicators of family support for elderly people over 80 years of age, who presented cognitive alterations (N=49). All ethical guidelines were followed. Data were collected at the homes of the elderly people. A large majority of the respondents lived with family members (88%). In half of the cases, the respondents lived with one (41%) or two (9%) other elderly persons. On average, there was one more non-elderly person living in the high vulnerability family context (M = 3.6, sd = 1.70) than in contexts of very low vulnerability (M = 2.4, sd = 1.07), F(2.43) = 3.364, p < 0.05. However, the functionality of the support provided by these family members needs to be verified, in each of these contexts.