Mindfulness - intervenção complementar na assistência aos idosos

Abstract

Introduction: The promotion of health for the elderly involves a range of knowledge in gerontology that subsidizes actions that improve the well-being and quality of life of this portion of the population, and it is pertinent to make efforts to investigate complementary practices that are yet another resource for the care. Objective: To analyze the effects of Mindfulness intervention on depressive symptoms, mental state and conscious attention in elderly people. Method: This is a before-and-after clinical trial, uncontrolled, with quantitative data analysis. Thirty-four elderly people aged 60 years and over, of both genders living in Dourados, MS, participated in this study. For evaluation were used: sociodemographic questionnaire, Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), Mindful Attention Awarensess Scale (MAAS) and the proposed intervention was the Mindfulness-Based Health Promotion (MBHP) protocol. Descriptive analysis was performed by calculating frequencies, measures of central tendency and dispersion. A t-test was performed for paired samples in the comparison of the EDG, MMSE, MAAS instrument before and after the intervention. The Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) test with Tukey's post-hoc multiple comparison test was used to compare the instruments in relation to sample characterization variables with more than 2 levels. Spearman's correlation test was applied to correlate the instrument scores with the continuous variables of sample characterization. A significance level of 5% was adopted. All ethical procedures were followed. Results: Most of the elderly who participated in the course were female, married, Catholic, with a mean age of 66.21 years. No significant differences were found in depressive symptom scores after the Mindfulness intervention. The correlation test showed that the higher the level of education, the lower the depressive symptoms scores. There were significant differences (p=0.014) in the MAAS scores when compared to the situation before the intervention, and significant differences in the MAAS score with the inactive economic activity variable (p=0.044). There were significant differences in the MMSE scores, showing that the score was significantly higher in the post-intervention period. Conclusion: These findings suggest that a brief 8-week intervention can be useful for the elderly as a health promotion measure, as they provide a means for the elderly to manage stressful problems, as well as manage or perceive when emotions arising from destabilizing situations of the life are affecting psychological and physical patterns. Maintaining the preservation of cognitive function in the elderly, whether through Mindfulness or another complementary integrative practice, is extremely important to maintain their independence and improve their quality of life.