Investimento pessoal e independência funcional: estudo dos níveis e dos determinantes num grupo de idosos

Background: Population aging is seen as a conquest of today’s society and is simultaneously a challenge in order to make this aging successful and quality of life. The investment in the personal life (IVP) carried out by the elderly in order to obtain the best quality of life as well as the maintenance of their functional independence are important indicators that need to be studied. Objectives: To evaluate the perception of the elderly about the investment in personal life and functional independence and to analyze associations between these variables and those of socio-demographic, clinical and psychosocial characteristics.  Material and Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional, analytical- correlational and quantitative study carried out on a non-probabilistic sample for the convenience of 103 elderly people from a Santa Casa da Misericordia in the northern district of Viseu. The data collection instrument integrated sociodemographic characterization issues; Clinical and psychosocial, the Barthel Index; and an Investment Scale in personal life adapted and validated for the Portuguese population by Santos & Martins (2015) Results: The IVP perceived by the elderly showed that it was elevated to 13.6%, moderate to 75.7%, and low to 10.7%. Functional independence levels were variable, and 40.8% of the elderly were independent, 29.1% slightly dependent, 10.7% moderately dependent, 5.8% severely dependent and 13.6% totally dependent. We also verified that the IVP was superior in the elderly: they lived in the domicile / day center (p = 0.013), practiced physical exercise (p = 0.001) and perceived highly functional families (p = 0.006). Functional independence only related with men being the most independent (p = 0.001). Conclusions: Although the levels of IVP and functional independence of the elderly present fairly positive values, these can be further improved through the implementation of intervention strategies that stimulate greater investment and promote better functional independence in the pursuit of active and successful aging.