Author:

• Paulo Cavalcante Apratto Junior - apratto,P.C - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Fundação Municipal de Saude de Niteroi/FMS Universidade Estacio de Sá - <aprattoporto@terra.com.br>

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Abstract:

ABSTRACT
Introduction This paper investigates the magnitude and the characteristics of violence against the elderly in households, practiced by confidential relatives, among the population living in Ilha da Conceição, in Niterpoi city, State of Rio de Janeiro, and enrolled for the Health Family Program. Methods In a household survey carried out from March to July 2006, 343 individuals aged 60 years or more, selected through simple random sampling, have been interviewed. To identify the presence of psychological and physical violence it was used the national version of the Conflict Tactics Scales - CTS1. Information on identification, demographic and socioeconomic characteristics came from questions of the National Survey of Household Samples - PNAD 2003. Mental health was evaluated through the Mini-examination of Mental State - MEEM. For evaluation of the functional capacity of the aged, one Health Assessment Questionnaire was used (HAQ). To evaluate the suspicion of abusive alcohol use for the elderly, the instrument used was the CAGE. For the female elderly or her caregiver, the instrument TWEAK was used. Results Forty and three percent of the interviewed ones reported that suffered at least an episode of psychological violence in the year prior to the interview. The physical violence of any gravity was reported by about 10% of the interviewed ones, whereas 6.1% of the aged ones reported the occurrence of serious physical violence in this period. In general, prevalence of several modalities of violence was higher among the youngest ones, with higher educational level, among those who presented at least one of the pathologies that characterize the elderly as holding a vulnerability (depression and/or urinary/fecal incontinence and/or diabetes and/or rheumatism and/or diabetes) and among those who live with a larger number of individuals. Conclusion The magnitude of the event and its consequences to the health of the elderly requires the immediate elaboration of politics and specific strategies of action for the prevention, precocious detection and control of the problem.
Key words: domestic violence; prevalence; ageing; population survey.

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