Association between Life Satisfaction and Health Self-Perception of the Elderly in Co-Residence

Abstract

Due to aging, physiological changes occur in the human body that bring vulnerabilities and result in the loss of working capacity, autonomy, and impairment of the performance of basic daily activities. In this context, concerns and the need for attention to the elderly increase in various dimensions of their lives, which requires support, often offered by the family. Given this, new family arrangements arise, such as the state of co-residence, which is the living of the elderly with children and / or grandchildren, whose goal is to benefit both younger and older generations. In this sense, the present study aims to analyze the association between life satisfaction and self-rated health of the elderly in co-residence. This is a population-based analytical-descriptive cross-sectional study with a quantitative approach, with 239 co-residing elderly registered in the Family Health Units located in the city of Vitória da Conquista-Bahia. Data were collected using the adapted Brazil old age Schedule (BOAS) questionnaire and the Health Status questionnaire, which were tabulated in Excel 2015 software and analyzed using The Statistical Package for Social Sciences for Windows. The results show a female prevalence, living with grandchildren, children and spouses. In addition, most of the research subjects refer to their own health as fair and are satisfied with life. This paper provided substantial information on co-resident elderly, highlighting a relationship between life satisfaction and self-rated health.