BEYOND RESEARCH COOPERATION ON SUCCESSFUL AGING: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE OF ELDERLY PEOPLE IN BRAZIL AND FINLAND

Abstract

Many studies have been carried out, mainly in the last decades, to understand the normal and pathological process of aging in the different areas of knowledge. However, many gaps still remain in the progress of science. In this sense, the overall objective of the present study was to evaluate the comparison between the performance of congruent elderly people in Brazil and Finland. The study method had a quantitative, descriptive cross - sectional design. The sample consisted of 194 subjects of both sexes, aged between 60 and 79 years, residing in the municipality of Ivoti / Rio Grande do Sul / Brazil and 93 subjects, both genders aged 65 to 85 years residing in Riihimäki / Finland. The instrument used was the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE). Data were analyzed statistically in SPSS version 25.0 through descriptive analysis of frequency and comparison of means by the Mann Whitney test (p≤0.05). The results showed that the cognitive performance of elderly people in the Ivoti group was significantly higher than those of Riihimäki. It can be concluded that cultural variables influenced outcomes, such as experiences in the early stages of human development and current interpersonal relationships.