O cuidado como direito social, qualidade de vida e condições de saúde de idosos comunitários e institucionalizados, no contexto da pandemia de Covid-19

Abstract

The pandemic exposed weaknesses in the provision of structured public policies to meet the care needs of the elderly population both in Brazil and in other countries. This thesis aimed to analyze the impacts related to quality of life and care from a social and health perspective caused by the pandemic in the community and institutionalized elderly population. Five specific objectives were developed that contributed to the development of the thesis in multipaper format. The results of this research are presented in sequential form of articles, in accordance with the proposed objectives. The first four articles are characterized by analyzing the main approaches to scientific production on national and international care policies, through analysis of different databases, leading by systematic review (methodi ordinatio), meta-analysis and bibliometric review . European and North American countries have long-term care policies (LTC). However, even though they are references for many countries, these policies have flaws such as: lack of eligibility for access to financial resources, precarious work for formal caregivers, increased burden and psychosomatic illnesses of family caregivers detected during the pandemic. There was exponential growth in productions regarding the mental health of the elderly to the detriment of negative impacts on quality of life with the exacerbation of feelings of loneliness, fear and symptoms of stress, depression and anxiety. Regarding Long-Term Institutions for the Elderly (ILPIs), there was a significant increase in contamination rates by the Covid-19 virus, due to structural flaws and implementation and standardization deficits in the supervision of these institutions. Finally, the last article aggregates national data, through quantitative analysis of secondary data from the ELSI-Brazil cohort research. The analyzes were constructed with data relating to social, economic and health inequalities. There were a total of 12,361 elderly people distributed across 70 Brazilian municipalities. The results follow national statistics on changes in the Brazilian demographic transition with the growth of the elderly population and longevity. It is concluded that care as a social right must be considered based on the results of studies. There were several achievements in the creation of policies aimed at the elderly, however, there is a struggle for the implementation and need for a care policy as a complement to other existing policies.