Socidemographic and health characteristics and their relationship with the perception of family support of elderly residents in peripheral areas

Abstract

ABSTRACTObjective: to determine the influence of sociodemographic and health variables on the perception of family support of elderly residents in peripheral areas. Method: this is an analytical study with a cross-sectional design, using a sample of 150 seniors, mean age of 74.47 (± 9.42) years, enrolled in four Health Units in the municipality of Jequié, Brazil. The instruments used were: sociodemographic data, health conditions, Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Perception of Family Support Inventory (PFSI). The research protocols were reviewed and approved by the Ethics in Human Research of the State University of Southwest Bahia (Opinion No. 189/2008). Results: with the application of Student t test between the mean areas of the Inventory of Perceived Family support and sociodemographic variables and health, there was statistical difference between the domain Autonomy and occupation of free time (p = 0.047) and between the domain adaptation and Family health problems (