Avaliação funcional e cognitiva de idosos na estratégia saúde da família

Abstract

The assessment functional is essential to the establish of a diagnosis, prognosis and appropriate clinical judgment that will serve as a basis for decisions about treatments and care necessary for the elderly. The cognitive assessment should also be carried out by health professionals in primary care, because it helps in identifying the major changes in mental health. The present work had as general objective to evaluate the functional capacity and the cognitive status of elderly residents in Bairro Parque Universitário, Teresina-PI. This is a descriptive, cross-sectional, quantitative study, with sample of the type non-probabilistic intentional, performed with 96 elderly residents in Bairro Parque Universitário, Teresina, PI, from August to September 2013. Data were collected during home visits, through a structured interview, using a socio-demographic questionnaire, Katz Index, Lawton scale and Mini-Mental State Examination. The data were organized in Microsoft Office Excel 2007 and analyzed after export to IBM SPSS software version 21.0. Descriptive data analysis was performed based on the reading of the absolute frequencies (n) and relative (%) of categorical variables. The study showed a predominance of females (58.3%); age group of 60-69 years (58.3%), married (40.6%), retired (65.6%), low education (96.8%) and low-income (92.7%). There was a high prevalence of chronic diseases and comorbidities. Most of the elderly, 66.6% reported regular use of medications and only 26.0% reported having caregiver. As for the basic activities of daily living: 93.7% were independent and about instrumental activities, only 37.5%. It was identified a cognitive deficit in 27,0%. It is emphasized in this study, the relevance of identify the care needs as to the functionality and cognition, in order to establish appropriate interventions in search of independence and improving the quality of life of elderly people in primary care.