Social representations about loneliness by institutionalized elderly

Abstract

Objective: recognizing the senses attributed to solitude by the elderly. Method: an exploratory research conducted with 68 elderly with minimum age of 62 years old and maximum of 94, of both genders, residents in institutions of long permanence in the city of João Pessoa - Paraíba, brazil. The data were collected from the semi-structured interview and analyzed with the aid of alceste software: 2010. Results: the analyzed data pointed to five classes or categories in which the elderly associate loneliness to negative dimensions, such as: abandonment and contempt. Conclusion: the representations of the elderly are decurrent from their previous experiences and existing contact or not with their families.