ArtigoCuidadoIdoso

ARTIGO ARTICLE

Projeto Bambuí: a experiência do cuidado domiciliário por esposas de idosos dependentes
The Bambuí Health and Aging Study (BHAS): the experience with home care provided by wives of dependent elderly

Karla C. Giacomin 1,2
Elizabeth Uchoa 2
Maria Fernanda F. Lima-Costa

1 Programa de Pós-graduação em Saúde Pública,
Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais,
Belo Horizonte, Brasil.
2 Núcleo de Estudos em Saúde Pública e Envelhecimento,
Centro de Pesquisas René
Rachou, Fundação Oswaldo
Cruz/Faculdade de Medicina,
Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais,
Belo Horizonte, Brasil.
Correspondência
K. C. Giacomin
Núcleo de Estudos em Saúde
Pública e Envelhecimento,
Centro de Pesquisas René
Rachou, Fundação Oswaldo
Cruz, Faculdade de
Medicina, Universidade
Federal de Minas Gerais.
Av. Augusto de Lima 1715,
Belo Horizonte, MG
30190-002, Brasil. [e-mail] 2

Abstract

Introdução

This paper investigates the characteristics of caregiving and the experience of women that care for their elderly husbands in Bambuí, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Among the elderly population in this community, the authors interviewed ten wives, using a survey exploring the main themes on the subject of caregiving. The data were interpreted based on an anthropological model of analysis. This model places the interaction between the individual and the context in the center of the interpretative process, underlying the construction and expression of diverse forms of human experience. The results of the survey highlighted the role, responsibilities, and obligations of women in Brazilian society with respect to caregiving for dependent elders.
Women are seen as “natural” caregivers, whereby it is their given obligation to take care of their husbands, providing all kinds of support. Both the individual in need of care and the caregiver live the reality of functional disability in a society lacking the proper mechanisms to provide for the elderly population. The current study clearly shows