Adaptação de pessoas idosas no domicílio após internamento por quedas

Abstract

Accidental falls in elderly people represent high rates of hospitalization, functional incapacity and death. Falls from their own height and the length of hospitalizationcan cause damage to the elderly person's body, which lasts after discharge from hospital and return home. Added to this is the fact that health professionals don't always carry out safe discharge planning, which contributes to a period of ineffective adaptation, marked by functional impairment and poor quality of life. To learn about the adaptation of elderly people at home after being hospitalized for falls. Qualitative and descriptive study. Data was collected from medical records and open interviews at home. The data was analyzed using the thematic content analysis proposed by Laurence Bardin and the Qualitative Data Analysis software. This research complied with the ethical aspects of resolutions 466/2012 and 510/2016. The positive stimuli experienced during adaptation at home were: family support, formal support after discharge, orientation for hospital discharge, positive beliefs/attitudes, religiosity. These had an impact on the behavioral responses of interdependence and self-concept. On the other hand, the negative stimuli: falls as a normal event during senescence, lack of guidance to prevent further falls and fear of experiencing another fall influenced the behavioral responses of function in real life. The data from this study shows that the process of adaptation of elderly people at home after hospitalization for falls is complex and subjective. For this reason, nursing staff should be aware of the nature of these stimuli during hospitalization, enhancing those that favor integrity and survival and remedying those that are contrary to this, thus contributing to achieving effective adaptation upon returning home.