Cuidador informal da pessoa idosa: construção de ferramenta assistencial para avaliação de literacia

Abstract

During the aging process, which is becoming increasingly common, not everyone is able to develop and maintain their functional abilities. Weaknesses lead to dependence and the need for a caregiver, most often an informal one. Caregivers need to assume their duties in the knowledge of the impact of their care on the elderly person's life. Performing their role properly provides a favorable prognosis for the elderly person and eases their burden. The Family Health Strategy's closest territory is the home, and it is through home visits that meaningful relationships are developed with the elderly person and their caregiver through support and co-responsibility for care. For this support to be carried out properly, it is necessary to assess and stimulate the health literacy of informal caregivers. Health Literacy is the set of skills and competencies used by individuals to obtain, process and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions for themselves and others. Increased literacy leads to the empowerment and protagonism of the caregiver in carrying out health care, ensuring their safety and the safety of the elderly person. The aim of this study is to help the Primary Health Care team to provide home care through the health literacy of informal caregivers of elderly people. This is a qualitative study developed through Convergent Care Research. The setting for the research was a municipality in the greater Natal area and participants included dependent elderly people, informal caregivers and ESF health professionals. Firstly, in order to characterize and get to know their perceptions of home care, the elderly and informal caregivers were subjected to semi-structured interviews and Convergence Groups, called GC1, were held with four ESF teams. The information collected was analyzed using Bardin's Content Analysis and with the help of Atlas.ti® software. The professionals present at the CG1 then took part in the construction of an instrument to accompany the informal caregiver to support home care for the elderly through a new Convergence Group, called CG2, mediated by the Charles Maguerez Arc Method during 4 meetings. GC2 was registered as an Extension Project at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte's Extension Office. Home care faces many obstacles if it is to be carried out optimally. Dependent elderly people depend on overburdened caregivers in a scenario that is unfavorable to the health of both. Health professionals, not far from these impasses, recognize the importance of the caregiver, but still make visits centered on the elderly person. The team's unfamiliarity with the term Health Literacy means that it is not used as a decisionmaking criterion, limiting the provision of care. As a way of broadening the professional view of the caregiver and Health Literacy, a tool was collectively built to accompany the informal caregiver by Primary Health Care to support home care for the elderly.