O cotidiano dos vaqueiros biritinguenses: o envelhecer no meio rural

Abstract

Research on the everyday lives of elderly people in rural areas, remain an open field in Occupational Therapy. In this context, the central theme of the present study is the everyday life of Biritinga's cowboys, addressing aging in the rural environment. It aims to understand their everyday lives through their own narratives, describe the rural workers' routines, identify the aging processes, and discuss the possibilities for occupational therapy interventions in this context. This is a qualitative-descriptive study with an exploratory character. A sociodemographic questionnaire and nine semi-structured interviews were conducted with elderly cowboys from the municipality of Biritinga. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed using Bardin's content analysis technique, following the stages of pre-analysis, material exploration, and results treatment. From the analysis of the transcriptions, thematic categories were identified that allowed understanding the relationships between daily activities, self-perception of aging, and know-how. The study contributes to the understanding of aging in rural contexts, highlighting possibilities for Occupational Therapy interventions with this population, considering their cultural, historical, and socio-political specificities. However, further studies on the everyday lives of rural communities are needed, especially those grounded in their cultural and identity characteristics.