Qualidade de vida de pessoas idosas em tratamento radioterápico e de seus familiares

Abstract

Advances in science and technology in health make it possible to increase the life expectancy of the population, providing a better quality of life for the elderly. However, chronic diseases such as cancer have a significant impact on this population. With regard to radiotherapy, in addition to its beneficial effects, adverse events caused can affect the health condition and quality of life of service users, making it relevant to investigate the elderly person and the family member who accompanies them. General objective: To evaluate the quality of life of elderly people undergoing radiotherapy and their accompanying family members. Specific objectives: Characterize the sociodemographic and health profile of elderly people undergoing radiotherapy and their accompanying family members; Identify the functional capacity of elderly people undergoing radiotherapy; Characterize the sociodemographic and health profile of the family member who accompanies the elderly person during radiotherapy treatment; Evaluate the quality of life of the family member who accompanies the elderly person undergoing radiotherapy; Evaluate the overload of the family member who accompanies the elderly person during radiotherapy treatment. Method: Quantitative crosssectional study, carried out with 75 elderly people and 75 family members who accompanied them in radiotherapy treatment at a university hospital in the south of the country. The inclusion criteria for elderly people were adopted, namely: being 60 years of age or older, of both sexes, being exclusively undergoing treatment with radiotherapy, regardless of the time and type of neoplasm, and being accompanied by a family member. For data collection, interviews were conducted using specific questionnaires for each objective, for the elderly, a sociodemographic questionnaire, Whoqol-Bref and Whoqol-Old, Lawton and Katz scales were used. For the family member, the sociodemographic questionnaire, Whoqol-Bref and the Zarit scale were used. Data were tabulated in Microsoft Excel® spreadsheets where descriptive statistics were generated. Results: Most elderly people were married, male, loweducated, retired, low-income, with regular quality of life, independent in their functional capacity in Basic Activities of Daily Living and partially dependent on Instrumental Activities of Daily Living. The family members were mostly married, female, with a low level of education, low income, with a good to regular quality of life, and a minimal degree of burden in caring for the elderly person undergoing radiotherapy. Conclusion: The study implies actions that strengthen the conduct in health care considering the use of specific instruments that assess the health of the elderly person, thus contributing to the qualification of nursing care provided to the elderly and their accompanying family members, generating an impact positive effect on the quality of life of elderly people undergoing radiotherapy.