Elderly diabetics: the reasons for the self-care in elderly with diabetes

Abstract

Due to the population aging, diabetes mellitus gains a new dimension, since the prevalence is high among the elderly. Comorbidities and polypharmacy are very common in this age group, so the consequences of diabetes mellitus in the elderly may be more severe than in the young. Therefore, this study aimed to: 1) investigate the knowledge of elderly diabetics in relation to diabetes mellitus and 2) identify the motivations of older people to self-care in relation to diabetes mellitus. Twenty persons participated, men and women, aged from 60 years living in the neighborhood of Ermelino Matarazzo, in the east of the city of São Paulo who participated in the “Rede Fibra”, a brazilian study about the profile of fragility elderly who were auto-declared diabetics.The interviews were analyzed qualitatively according to the Social Phenomenology of Alfred Schütz. The main factor of motivation to their self-care was the knowledge of complications of the disease that they learned from their relatives and friends. Among the "reasons for" performing self-care, there is the expectation of living well, without the complications of the disease. From this information, one can develop intervention strategies appropriated to this social group.