Abstract

SILVA, Even Paula Lima da; ALESSIO, Renata Lira dos Santos  and  MORAIS, Edclécia Reino Carneiro de. Social representations and death: perspective of the elderly in different contexts of institutionalization. Psicol. Conoc. Soc. [online]. 2024, vol.14, n.2, e1422.  Epub Sep 30, 2024. ISSN 1688-7026.  https://doi.org/10.26864/pcs.v14.n2.2.

Long Stay Institutions for the Elderly are increasingly a place of residence for elderly people. In common sense there is a strong association between death and these institutions. In order to understand the social representations of death in this context, we interviewed 15 elderly people living in public, private or non-profit institutions. The interviews were submitted to content analysis. Death is represented as natural and inevitable, referring to pain, suffering and loss and strongly anchored in the religious universe, especially in the private non-profit institution. There is an approximation between the representations of old age and death, with old age being associated with diseases and decline (private and private non-profit institutions) contrasting with the social representation of old age marked by active life in society and death as inevitable (public ILPI).

Keywords : Old age; aging; institutionalization; development.

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