Nursing in face of (I) mobility of hospitalized elderly people: Study of social representations

Abstract

Introduction: Mobility is a basic action practiced during the execution of general nursing care during hospitalization, however, when it comes to elderly people, this action is usually controversial because it constitutes a risk for falls. Objective: To apprehend the structure of the social representations of the nursing team regarding the mobility of the hospitalized elderly person. Methods: This is exploratory descriptive research with a qualitative approach, based on the principles of the Theory of Social Representations, with a focus on the structural approach. The social group studied was composed of 100 professionals from the nursing team who work in units dedicated to the care of the elderly at a university hospital in the city of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. Data collection took place in two moments, through the free word association and unstructured interview techniques. The free word association data were processed by the EVOC software, which determined the structure of the social representation through the four-place table. Content analysis was used for the interviews. The discussion involved the entire research corpus. Results: In the table, considering the frequency and the average order of evocations, the terms “fall, bedridden and care” composed the central nucleus. From the analyses of interviews, three thematic categories emerged: Mobility care involving risks, mobility care, aimed at maintaining independence/autonomy and care to deal with barriers to mobility. For the nursing team investigated, the social representation of mobility is associated with ambulation, with limited movements in the face of the risk of falling, which stimulates autonomy and independence. Conclusion: The structure of the Social Representations on the mobility of the hospitalized elderly person is anchored in everyday situations of the professional practice of the investigated group, evidencing conflicts between promoting prevention/recovery of incapacity through hospitalization and avoiding other health damages due to the risk of falls.