Family functioning and depressive symptoms in community elderly people

• Grant number: 23/05248-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: October 01, 2023
• End date: September 30, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Social Psychology
• Principal Investigator: Keika Inouye
• Grantee: Thays Oliveira de Siqueira
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde (CCBS). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

As a person ages, there is a gradual reduction in activities and social roles, as well assuch as physiological and functional losses, which can make family relationships moreimportant. Studies point out that the lack of family support predisposes the individual tomorbidities, mental illness, cognitive decline, institutionalization and even death. For anotherhand, a functional family is a protective factor for the health and well-being of individuals. Of thisThus, the present study aims to verify whether there is an association betweenfamily functionality and the number of depressive symptoms in elderly people in contextof high social vulnerability. This is a quantitative design research,descriptive and transversal. The sample will consist of elderly people registered inFamily Health Units in the city of São Carlos, São Paulo, residing in areas ofhigh social vulnerability. Two paired groups will be formed as follows: (a)Group with good family functionality; (b) Group with moderate family dysfunction orelevated. Data collection will be carried out through interviews with application ofcharacterization questionnaire prepared for the research, Geriatric Depression Scale(GDS-15) and Family APGAR. The data obtained will be entered into a bank in the programStatistical Package for Social Sciences for Windows for performing statistical analysisdescriptive and comparative. The research hypothesis is that elderly people who livein dysfunctional families have a greater number of depressive symptoms. All steps of thiswork obeyed the ethical guidelines of scientific research involving human beings.