Afetividade de idosos de vida religiosa consagrada e a moradia na casa de saúde: projetos de vida e processo de estabilização residencial

Abstract

The main objective of this research was to investigate the affection (feelings and emotions) from religious men – elderly priests and brothers from Roman Catholic Church – in relation to dwelling at the nursing home, establishing relationships with their life projects. In order to do that, we began from a literature search to define our theoretical framework for this investigation. Therefore, we chose the theoretical framework of Environmental Psychology and Critical Social Psychology as base for this work, which enabled us to build a methodology committed not only to the research’s results, but mainly with the ethical and emancipatory consequences for the study participants. The Methodology and Results Analysis used the Affective Maps Instrument Generator as seizure method of affects in relation to dwelling at the nursing home, which was complemented with the analysis of the reports coming from a support method named Environmental Autobiography. Soon, we found that elderly religious men present overwhelmingly positive esteem for the nursing home, with images of pleasantness, attractiveness, contrasts and insecurity. We understand that the images of pleasantness and attractiveness empower identification actions to nursing home and life projects structuring in the residential environment more easily by elderly religious men, because those images indicate a best value of appropriation, meaning and place attachment. This way, contrasts image, found in this study, also suggests empowerment of actions in this direction, since its respondent, although having some negative representations of the environment and interpersonal relationships at the nursing home, demonstrates commitment and active participation in the home activities developed, qualifying positively the residential environment. However, insecurity image is linked mainly to the disempowerment of actions directed to: life projects structuring at the nursing home; development of place identity; and participation in community activities; because it does not promote the affects required for this process. Thus, the actions empowerment of life projects restructuring and development of place identity at the nursing home occur, especially, when elderly religious men become able to understand their life style transformation characterized by residential mobility and make of it a new dwelling model characterized primarily by residential stability.