ViolÃncia contra a pessoa idosa: o que revelam os laudos periciais do Instituto de Medicina Legal do Recife

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2009

RESUMO

The Brazilian population is progressively getting old. At the same time, increasing violence against at risk groups such as aged people is being detected. This investigation aims to determine the profile of violence in general and the physical domestic violence factors associated in elderly victims subjected to medical examinations at the Institute of Forensic Medicine (Instituto de Medicina Legal - IML) in Recife (Brazil). A study was performed based on a cross sectional of 1036 legal medical reports from people aged 60 years old and over, between January 2004 and December 2007. Data was colleted from the files of the IML in Recife with the help of a form with 16 questions. In order to study the association between the variables, type of violence, victim and aggressor, the Chi-Squared test was used. Differences were considered significant when p <0,05. From the universe of revised medical reports, 37 out of 1036 mentioned recurrent violence and in 1027 cases (99.1%) occurred physical violence, the time span between aggression and legal medical examination at IML was from three to four days. Violence was produced by mechanical injury in 99.1% of cases, by blunt instrument in 89.5% and by ânatural weaponsâ (body segments) in 51.8%. Aggression occurred on Sundays (19.1%), at night (35.9%) and at home (57.7%). Generalized injury occurred in 40.4% of the cases, but less intensity injuries were seen in 93.4%. Most victims were male (59.2%), 60-69 years old (71.6%), colored (83.5%), married/consensual union (44.2%), retired (46.7%), living in Greater Recife (95.7%), in Recife city (54.5%) and in the district of Boa Viagem (8.7%). Most aggressors were male (69.5%) and attacked the victims alone (88.4%). In 39.8% they were friends but not relatives to the victims. Domestic violence was shown to be related to a certain region of the body, to sex, to marital status and to occupation of the victims, as well as to the quantity and sex of the aggressor and his relationship to the victim. Considering the social significance of violence against elderly people and particularly the environment where it most frequently occurs, it is of fundamental importance to establish government programs to sensitize the population, especially families, to respect the elderly, who may still contribute to younger generations in terms of life experience and wisdom. In this way, solidarity, a culture of peace and gentle care will contribute to a better quality of life in old age

ASSUNTO(S)

elder abuse domestic violence violÃncia domÃstica maus-tratos ao idoso idoso older violence saude coletiva violÃncia

ACESSO AO ARTIGO

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