Abstract

RABELO, Dóris Firmino  and  NERI, Anita Liberalesso. Elderly's Family Climate and Health: Cluster Analysis. Rev. Subj. [online]. 2020, vol.20, n.3, pp. 1-12. ISSN 2359-0769.  http://dx.doi.org/10.5020/23590777.rs.v20i3.e10214.

The family configuration and climate provides the setting for the family's ways of dealing with the demands of physical and mental health problems of an elderly member. The aim of this study was to describe associations between elements of family climate, family configuration and physical and psychological health conditions of the elderly. Participated 134 elderly recruited in the community, interviewed at home, in which the family climate (support, cohesion, conflict and hierarchy), the family configuration (housing arrangements, leadership and financial contribution), the physical health (self-reported health, level of functional dependence and social involvement) and the psychological health (depression and anxiety). Cluster analysis by the partitioning method was used. The basic activities of daily living (R2 = 0.887) and family support (R2 = 0.242) were the variables that most contributed to the formation of the three conglomerates: 1) Women physically, psychologically and financially burdened, with a tendency to isolation, who negatively assessed the family climate (n = 5); 2) Financially burdened men, with a tendency to isolation, with good physical and psychological health and with negative assessments of the family climate (n = 74); 3) Women partially responsible for supporting the family, in good health, socially involved and with positive assessments of the family climate (n = 55). There was an interaction between the burden generated by the responsibility to support the family, the hierarchical position of the elderly in the family structure, their health conditions and their assessments of the family climate.

Keywords : family relations; adult development; family health; elderly; family.

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