MEANING OF CARE FOR RESIDENT OLDER ADULTS, FAMILY MEMBERS AND PROFESSIONALS WORKING IN LONG-TERM CARE INSTITUTIONS

Abstract

ABSTRACT Objective to understand the meaning of care from the perspective of resident older adults, family members and professionals from Long-Term Care Institutions for Older Adults. Method a descriptive and exploratory study with a qualitative approach, developed with 14 resident older adults, 35 family members and 41 professionals from Long Term Care Institutions for Older Adults, located in the city of Florianópolis, Brazil. The data were collected between May 2017 and January 2018, being organized through the Atlas.ti software for the analysis of qualitative data and analyzed according to the content analysis method proposed by Bardin, in the light of the Theory of Social Representations. Results for the older adults, care was linked to three main dimensions: technical care related to the institution, family care, and self-care. The meaning of care from the perspective of family members was related to the moment experienced with the institutionalization of the aged family member, mainly characterized by the dimensions of affective care, when providing comfort and technical care. For the professionals, technical care was related to the affective character. Conclusion care could be understood in different ways, from different perspectives, but it also made it possible to identify points of synchrony among the participants.