Human aging and home care: a perspective from future physicians

• Grant number: 25/15641-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: January 01, 2026
• End date: December 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Education - Guidance and Counseling
• Principal Investigator: Luis Eduardo Genaro
• Grantee: Kayriny Coutinho Santos
• Host Institution: FAC ANHANGUERA JUNDIAI/AESA

Abstract

Human aging is one of the main issues of our time, requiring professionals who are trained to deal with its complexities. Primary Health Care (PHC) and Home Care (HC) play fundamental roles in ensuring continuity of care, reducing hospitalizations, and strengthening bonds with patients. However, gaps remain in medical education regarding content related to geriatrics, gerontology, and home-based care, which can impact the quality of care provided. In this context, the project aims to analyze the attitudes, perceptions, and experiences of final-year medical students regarding human aging and home care. Specifically, it seeks to investigate attitudes toward aging, understand subjective perceptions, analyze academic or personal experiences related to HC, assess the perceived level of preparedness to provide geriatric home care, and identify suggestions for improving academic training in this area. This is a descriptive, cross-sectional study with a mixed (qualitative-quantitative) approach, involving approximately 80 students from a university in the countryside of São Paulo, Brazil. Data will be collected through a sociodemographic questionnaire, the application of the Kogan's Attitudes Toward Old People Scale, and semi-structured interviews analyzed using the Collective Subject Discourse (CSD) technique. Quantitative data will be processed using IBM SPSS Statistics 20.0, with descriptive analyses and a significance level of 5%. It is expected that this study will provide insights into how future physicians perceive aging and home care, identifying gaps and opportunities for incorporating curricular practices and content focused on comprehensive elderly care. Additionally, the findings may support improvements in medical education, fostering ethical, humanized, and interdisciplinary care practices.