PSYCHOSOCIAL ASPECTS AND THE RISK OF FALLING IN THE ELDERLY: INTEGRATIVE REVIEW

Abstract

Due to biopsychosocial changes involving aging, the elderly become more suscep-tible to falls. This fact can lead to hospitalizations and even death. The purpose of this inte-grative review study was The collection took place between December 8, 2020 and January 20, 2021, through the databases: PubMed, Cochrane, LILACS, SciELO, BVS Psi and Portal Capes. The descriptors were used: self-care, elderly, accidents due to falls and patient safety with the Boolean AND, including its variations in English and Spanish. A sample of 33 arti-cles was obtained, showing 7 psychosocial aspects, 8 self-care strategies and 14 safety strate-gies highlighted in the articles as factors that minimize the risk of falls. It is observed how the strategies of self-care are related to those of safety, being necessary the first to exist so that the second can be carried out, and can be further enhanced or hampered by the psychosocial aspects. This research has implications for the performance of Psychology by highlighting the psychic aspect of the risk of falling and the psychosocial aspects related to prevention strate-gies. Thus, it is reflected how Psychology should be inserted in the interdisciplinary perfor-mance, having as a guideline the look at the psychosocial aspects and how they may be inter-fering or enhancing the self-care strategies and those of the elderly.