Comportamentos relacionados à saúde e seus fatores associados de pessoas idosas em atividade laboral em uma universidade pública

Abstract

Introduction: The increase in life expectancy is celebrated as an advance for humanity, however it brings with it the aging of the population and, consequently, a great challenge for the contemporary world. Knowing the characteristics and the health-related behaviors of the elderly population will allow the implementation/structuring of public policies and actions to address their real needs. Objective: This study aimed to analyze health-related behaviors and their associated factors in elderly people in work activity at a Public University. Methodology: This is a descriptive and inferential cross-sectional study, with a quantitative approach. The sample consisted of 80 individuals and data were collected between May and December 2021, in a virtual environment through phone calls and/or video calls. Descriptive analyzes were performed, besides Pearson's chi-square or Fisher's exact test (for a 95% significance level), Poisson regression and cluster analysis, using IBM SPSS software. Result: Most respondents were male (n=45, 53.8%), and mean age was 64 years, the predominant color/race was Pretos (black and brown) (n=40, 50.0%). Administrative technical workers participated more (n=46, 57.7%) and in terms of work years, 45% have been working at UFRN for over 41 years (n=36). Significant associations were found between job title and up-to-date influenza vaccine (p<0.03), between religion and seeking medical care in the last year (p<0.04), sexual intercourse in the last year, and sex (p<0.001), marital status (p<0.001) and cohabitation (p<0.03). After creating two clusters, eight individuals were not grouped into any cluster and were considered to have excellent health-related behaviors. Cluster 1 was considered to have regular health-related behaviors and Cluster 2 to have good health-related behaviors. A significant association was found between the clusters and marital status (p<0.03) and cohabitation (p<0.04). Final considerations: Despite the study showing that in general the participants showed good healthrelated behaviors, some still reported health risk behaviors, which highlights the challenges on self-care in the elderly population. Facing that, it is possible to perceive the importance of sensitizing elderly people to health risk behaviors and their impacts on health and quality of life, especially in providing information for them to make decisions about their behaviors, and also allowing the service to put into practice collective strategies aimed at the real needs of the elderly, complementing those already established on worker’s health, enabling the structuring and monitoring of their health and work activity.