Meanings and feelings of being elderly: social representations of elderly men living in Itajubá, south Minas Gerais

Abstract

This work aims to identify the meaning given by elderly men to the process of aging, as well as to know their feelings, facilities and difficulties faced during such period. It is an exploratory transversal study with a qualitative approach that involved 20 men who were at least 60 years old and lived in Itajubá, MG. Data analysis was performed using the Collective Subject Discourse, which is based in the Theory of Social Representations. Regarding the aspect of being elderly, the following central ideas were observed: "It is something good"; "It is a life consequence"; "I don't know"; "It is OK"; "It is not good"; "It is hard"; "Luck"; "Time has passed"; "It is life sequence"; "It is a gift from God"; and "Life with health". The feelings of being elderly were exposed by: "Good"; "Very good"; "Very satisfied"; "Young"; "Tired"; "Several feelings"; "Happiness"; "Loneliness"; "Final phase"; and "More or less". The reported facilities were: "Retirement"; "Nothing is difficult"; "Privileges"; "It doesn't change anything"; "Culture"; "Memories"; "Being healthy"; "Looking for God"; and "I don't know". Finally, the mentioned difficulties faced while being elderly were: "Nothing is difficult"; "Physical and mental activities"; "Health problems"; "Youth disrespect", "Financial problems, "Loss of opportunities", "To see how the world has changed", "Relationship with the family"; "Security"; "Loneliness"; and "Job".We can see that the meanings, feelings, facilities and difficulties faced in this period of life are widely variable.