My SciELO
Interface - Comunicação, Saúde, Educação
Print version ISSN 1414-3283
Abstract
LIMA, Ângela Maria Machado de; SILVA, Henrique Salmazo da and GALHARDONI, Ricardo. Successful aging: paths for a construct and new frontiers.Translated byCarolina Silveira Muniz Ventura. Interface (Botucatu) [online]. 2008, vol.4Selected edition, pp. 0-0. ISSN 1414-3283.
This article focuses on different conceptions of successful aging, emphasizing the process of aging as a heterogeneous experience that implies different strategies for achieving wellbeing and quality of life. Studies valuing the aging process as part of the course of human life and the role of subjectivity and health self-perception, as key concepts for understanding wellbeing and health in old age, were selected. Data in the literature suggest that the experience of successful aging values elderly people's own perceptions: they are the protagonists of interventions and possess judgment about wellbeing and quality of life. Even in the presence of comorbidities and diminished functional ability, it is possible to identify elderly people who report high levels of satisfaction and good quality of life. We propose questions that seek to improve investigations and elaborate this construct within gerontology, bearing in mind the size and complexity of this topic.
Keywords : Aging; Old age; Aged; Quality of life; Health.