Old age, disability and care in public health

Abstract

Aging of the population profoundly changes the scope of action of public health, altering the profile of morbidity-mortality and increasing the demand for chronic care. In the aging population, disability serves as an indicator of health and a guideline for actions and policies. This enquiry, with a qualitative approach, based on interpretative anthropology and the emic perspective, aims to understand the way of thinking and acting of old people in the face of ‘old age with disability’ and their relationships with public health. Individual interviews were held at the subject’s homes, using a semi-structured script, with 57 old people living in the city, including participants from the cohort of Bambuí. Collection and analysis of the data was oriented by the methodology of Signs, Meanings and Actions, making possible anthropological investigation of the representations and concrete behaviors associated with disability in old age in the local culture. Two categories relating to the relationships between old age, disability and public healthcare emerged from the analysis: (i) experience of care in old age with disability; and (ii) the fear of lack of care. The results reveal that public health needs to review its concepts about disability in old age and incorporate disability into the agenda of the functional dimension of health and care for old age.