Quality of Life of Institutionalized Elderly in Brazil

When considering the increasing proportion of institutionalized elderly and the aim of better quality of life for this growing population, it is necessary to know the quality of life for residents in nursing homes in Brazil, which is the purpose of this review. This is a simple review whose research was performed in electronic databases Journal Portal CAPES, Scopus and Bireme. The latter covers information about the subject registered in the SciELO, LILACS, MEDLINE and the Cochrane Library. Identified studies were assessed according to the following inclusion criteria: (1) population (institutionalized elderly in Brazil), (2) theme (quality of life) and (3) quantitative approach. According to this review, most studies that compared the quality of life of residents and nonresidents in nursing homes revealed that the institutionalized elderly have a worse perception of quality of life, possibly due to factors that cause the institutionalization and influence this self-perception, such as age, sex, education, lifestyle, autonomy and social participation. Among the domains evaluated in the questionnaire for quality of life the perception of autonomy and environmental aspects were the least satisfied by the institutionalized elderly. To improve the quality of life it is essential that the community living in the institutional space promote the autonomy of the elderly. Public policies that make a difference to the well being of older people need to be maintained, expanded and strengthened continuously to new strategies that respond to demands arising from rapid population aging and promote quality of life improvement.