Banca de DEFESA: FRANKLIN LEARCTON BEZERRA DE OLIVEIRA

Prevalence of abuse against institutionalized elderly people: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Long-term care institution for the elderly. Elder Abuse. Health of the Institutionalized Elderly. Elderly.

Long-term care institutions are places to welcome elderly people who are unable to remain under the care of family members or on their own, under the responsibility of a multidisciplinary team. The change in environment, together with the lack of material and human resources, the health condition of the elderly, makes the environment conducive to the occurrence of damage and aggression and mistreatment of the institutionalized elderly. Therefore, the present study aims to analyze the prevalence of abuse against institutionalized elderly people. This is a systematic review with meta-analysis carried out in the databases SCIELO, CINHAL, Web Of Science, PUBMED, EMBASE, LILACS, BDENF and SCOPUS. The study was registered on the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) platform, which generated registration number CRD4202456789. The selected studies underwent an analysis following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) checklist to be used in writing this work. Through studies, it was observed that the institutionalization of elderly people enhances the process of vulnerability. Furthermore, the elderly themselves often do not report the abuse because of the feeling of shame, intimidation and fear and also because the abuse can be initiated by a family member or person with a strong emotional connection. Therefore, professionals and managers of institutions need to be willing to report the types of abuse suffered by the elderly to the competent bodies to resolve the problem, as well as develop public policies aimed at ensuring the rights of institutionalized elderly people.