Autocuidado e terceira idade: abordagens das diferentes áreas da saúde

Abstract

Ageing, as being a dynamic process that suffers not only biologic but also psychological, social and environmental influence, requires a complex and varied approach determining the acting of diverse professionals of health area. This study consists in a research review and its objective is to identify the perspectives of different health areas about self-care in gerontology, including also the activities that each health discipline regards as self-care. For this purpose, a search regarding elderly self-care was made in Bireme and Scielo databases, including articles in Portuguese between 2003 and 2009. Nine articles were selected in medicine, nursing, physical education, nutrition, psychology, physical therapy, fonoaudiology and odontology areas. Even though conceptually related to health promotion and an alternative for maintaining the autonomy and independence, it was observed that, often, self-care is approached in a prescriptive way, related to the disease. Another aspect that was noticed from reading the articles and discussed in the study was the relationship between self-care and variables such as income, social-economic conditions, gender, occupation, among others, creating thus a general vision of the approach of each area about self-care in gerontology.