Qualidade de vida de idosos após acidente vascular cerebral no Município de Marabá-PA

Abstract

Having quality of life is one of the extremely important factors for physical, social and emotional well-being, especially in the case of elderly people who have suffered stroke. The objective of this research is to evaluate the quality of life of the elderly after stroke. This is an exploratory qualitative research through semi-structured interviews, conducted at the Integrated Center of the Elderly Antonio Rodrigues located in the Belo Horizonte neighborhood, in the city of Marabá-PA. Among the 18 elderly who participated in the center, five suffered stroke and three elderly were chosen to participate in the study, interviews were done in a single day, in the afternoon shift in 2019. In addition to the interview, the quality of life was also measured by the Brazilian version of the WHOQOL-Old questionnaire. According to the interviewees' results, two demonstrated that their physical limitations and lack of follow-up with physical therapists were factors that most contributed to their low quality of life, and one was partially satisfied with their quality of life. Regarding the WHOQOL-old total score, we observed that respondents had similar scores with the following values: 10.3 (low quality of life), 10.0 (low quality of life) and 13.1 (average quality of life) respectively. It is concluded that stroke negatively interfered in quality of life, as it directly affected the physical and emotional aspect of the interviewed elderly. Thus, this study will enable a better understanding of the disease in the view of those who already had and are currently recovering. With the data obtained it will be possible to perform more specific health actions, taking into account the particularities of the affected.