Perceção de Risco de Queda de Pessoas Idosas em Ambiente Domiciliário: implicação para a promoção e educação em saúde

Introduction: One of the main events affecting the elderly population is falls. People's judgments and assessments of the dangers to which they are or may be exposed in their environment are called risk perception. Risk perceptions guide decisions about the acceptability of risk and are a central influence on behavior before, during and after a fall. Material and Methods: This was a qualitative, exploratory and descriptive study, using semi-structured interviews and the application of vignettes to a convenience sample. Data analysis focused on the content analysis method, triangulated with interview data and risk identification, based on the situations in the vignettes. The sample included 10 elderly people with an average age of 75.4 years, the majority of whom were female and all of whom had a history of previous falls, with the exception of one elderly person. Results: The coding and interpretation of the data resulted in three thematic categories: “A Body (In) Capable of Being Healthy”; “The Fall, Perception of Risk and Vulnerability in the Living Space” and finally, “Being Capable of Acting in the Living Space”. Discussion: Health has taken on the value of a capacity, of the performance of the elderly person in each environment. Conclusion: The study highlighted the importance of an educational approach to health promotion and fall prevention, centered on the person and the context and based on the elderly person's meanings of the perceived risk in their home environment.