Social communication and functional independence of the elderly in a community assisted by the family health strategy

ABSTRACT Purpose: to analyze the association between social communication and independence for the Daily Living Instrumental Activities of elderly people residing in a territory assisted by the Family Health Strategy. Methods: a sectional study was conducted, with elderly ≥ 60 years. Data collection was performed through the application of a socioeconomic and demographic questionnaire and protocols for the evaluation of functional independence and social communication. Functional independence was assessed through the scale of instrumental activities of daily living; And the media, through the media domain of the ASHA FACTS protocol. Data were analyzed through descriptive statistics and logistic regression. Results: 123 elderly, in the average age of 68 years (Standard Deviation=7 years), the majority being females (72, 4%) and dependent (64, 2%), were evaluated. Most elderly with insufficient social communication had functional dependence (70,9%). After control by sociodemographic variables, the social communication remained significantly associated with the functional dependency for the instrumental activities of everyday life (Odds Ratio=2.45; p=0.04). Conclusion: elderly people presented with insufficient communication show twice as much the chance of having functional dependence for the Daily Living Instrumental Activities scale, as compared to elderly people with sufficient social communication. Knowledge of such an association can contribute to improving the care and quality of life of this population.

摘要
目的：分析接受家庭健康策略(Family Health Strategy)服务辖区内老年人的社会沟通能力与日常工具性日常生活活动(Instrumental Activities of Daily Living)独立性之间的关联。
方法：本研究为横断面研究，纳入年龄≥60岁的老年人作为研究对象。数据收集通过社会人口学问卷、功能独立性评估方案及社会沟通能力评估方案完成：功能独立性采用工具性日常生活活动量表进行评估；社会沟通能力则通过美国言语语言听力协会(American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, ASHA)FACTS方案的沟通维度进行评定。数据采用描述性统计学方法与logistic回归分析进行处理。
结果：共纳入123名老年人，平均年龄为68岁（标准差(Standard Deviation, SD)=7岁），其中女性占比72.4%，存在功能依赖者占比64.2%。社会沟通能力不足的老年人中，70.9%存在功能依赖。在控制社会人口学变量后，社会沟通能力与日常工具性日常生活活动功能独立性仍呈显著关联（优势比(Odds Ratio)=2.45；P=0.04）。
结论：与社会沟通能力充足的老年人相比，社会沟通能力不足的老年人其日常工具性日常生活活动功能依赖发生概率高出一倍。明确此类关联有助于优化该群体的照护方案并提升其生活质量。