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.