Aspectos fonoaudiológicos e qualidade de vida de idosos residentes em um município de pequeno porte do RS

Abstract

This research dealt with various aspects of speech, language and hearing involved in human aging. His goal was to analyze the quality of life related to general health and speech therapy aspects of a sample of elderly residents in a small city of Rio Grande do Sul had specific objectives to characterize them in terms of age, gender, marital status, education, socioeconomic status, general health, as well as associate the linguistic manifestations and perceptions of hearing, voice and stomatognathic system with the biological conditions, cultural partner, and quality of life. The sample consisted of 237 subjects aged 60 years or more, accompanied by Health Units. These were contacted and invited to participate and informed of its objectives and procedures for the Community Health Agents then signed the TCLE and were applied CCEB and WHOQOL Bref questionnaires, as well as a roadmap for speech evaluation, aiming at understanding spoken language and the perception of the elderly as their hearing, voice and stomatognathic system. The demographics, health conditions, perceptions of hearing, voice and stomatognathic system as well as on quality of life were statistically analyzed. The language data were interpreted qualitatively, according to references denunciativediscourse that support this research. The sample was composed of both gender, women accounted for the majority (62.4%), 45.1% of the subjects were married, 89% had completed fourth grade of elementary school and 90% of them belonged to classes C and D. It is noteworthy that 85.7% of the elderly complained of illness and 84.8% used drugs, 37.6% complained of voice disorders, hearing impairment of 46.4%, 28.7% of difficulty in chewing and 23 3% in swallowing, and 86.3% were users of dental prosthesis. There was a significant association between dental in women (p = 0.002) and changes in voice class B (p = 0.039). As for the quality of life was significantly associated (p <0.05) domains of WHOQOL short when comparing the results between groups of different sociodemographic situations and biological conditions. The average overall (general area) of the studied population was 14.74, suggesting good quality of life of elderly residents in the municipality. The average overall (general area) of the study population was 14.74, suggesting good quality of life of elderly residents in the municipality. Regarding the analysis of oral language, it was found that the various commands do not directly influence the narratives of the elderly, but cooperative strategies / negotiated by the interlocutors were determining factors for the development and significance of those. The most recurrent themes were loss of family members, illness, marriage and birth of children. It was concluded that socio-demographic factors alone do not influence changes in the complaints of speech therapy, as are low impact on quality of life. However, biological factors (gender, age, diseases in general and changes in voice, hearing, swallowing and chewing) influence the subjective perception of quality of life of seniors. As for the language, it was shown that social interaction spaces enable the productive use of language. It is recommended that speech highlighting the subjective perception of individuals about their living conditions and health, expanding its activities beyond the clinical, rehabilitative, with the aim of ensuring comprehensive health care to the elderly.