Abstract

DI MENEZES, Nayara Ruben Calaça  and  LIMA, Priscilla Melo Ribeiro de. Aging and chronicle disease: analysis of decision-making autonomy of elderly patients with Multiple Myeloma. Rev. SBPH [online]. 2019, vol.22, n.1, pp. 107-126. ISSN 1516-0858.

The growing aging of the population and the consequent spread of chronic conditions illustrate the importance of studies on old age and autonomy in medical decision-making. This work’s proposal is to analyse the perception of elders with Multiple Myeloma on their autonomy during treatment at the hematology ambulatory of the Clinics Hospital of the Federal University of Goiás. All data were collected from semi-structured interviews, with five outpatients under onco-hematologic treatment. The interviews allowed the construction of five main guidelines for the analysis of the data collected, those being: (1) Description of the population; (2) Knowledge and information about their diagnosis; (3) Changes provoked by their condition; (4) Healthcare team and patient autonomy; and (5) will to give up treatment. It is concluded that although information about diagnosis and treatment does not appear in patients' discourse effectively, participants consider their decision-making autonomy to be valid during treatment.

Keywords : autonomy; old age; neoplasm; health psychology.

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