Sexualidade no envelhecimento e a atuação do enfermeiro na atenção primária à saúde: revisão narrativa

Abstract

Introduction. In Brazil, it is defined as an elderly person, one who is 60 years of age or older. The life expectancy of Brazilians for 2018 reached an average of 76 years, that is, the country stands out in relation to population aging, with a significant increase in elderly people (CLOSS; SCHWANKE, 2012; IBGE, 2017). Elderly people are often considered fragile, dependent and seen as a burden to society, however, the elderly population needs specific care directed at the peculiarities arising from the aging process (PAHO, 2018). In the context of care provided by health teams in primary care, it is valid to consider the sexuality of the elderly person during the assessment, as the identification of sexual dysfunction can indicate psychological, physiological or both. Although the frequency and intensity of sexual activity changes throughout life, pro-blems in the ability to enjoy sexual intercourse should not be considered a normal part of aging (BRASIL, 2006). Goal. Describe the contributions of nurses, working in Primary Health Care, to the process of sexuality in aging. Methodology. It is a narrative review of the literature, conside-red appropriate to describe and discuss the development or "state of the art" of a given subject, from a theoretical or contextual point of view. The inclusion criteria were: studies published in the vernacular language, which covered as the central theme the elderly, sexuality and aging, complete studies available electronically, free of charge, published in the LILACS and BDENF databases, in the period from 2016 to 2021. As exclusion criteria: Unavailability of the full arti-cle in electronic media; duplication studies and experience reports; master's dissertations and doctoral theses; articles published outside the study period, thematic publications unrelated to the objectives of this study and unavailable for free. Results and Discussion. After applying the filters according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 13 studies made up the final sample. The titles of the studies emphasized the difference between sex and sexuality in old age, the difficul-ty of the elderly in dialoguing with the health professional about their sexual behavior and fac-tors related to aging that affect the elderly person's sexual and emotional satisfaction. It was ob-served in the studies that cultural factors, such as beliefs and customs that the elderly are not sexually active (culture of asexuality), social prejudice, stereotypes that sexuality is more suita-ble for younger people, physiological changes arising from longevity and previous negative ex-periences interfere in the sexual practice of the elderly person. Final Considerations. It was concluded that the study can contribute to a conceptual and interpretive change on the sexuality of the elderly, which is still understood and viewed with prejudice and restrictions. Elderly peo-ple suffer the stigma of being misidentified by society as asexual and lacking in sexual desire. It was obtained that this view can be transformed through educational actions promoted mainly by Primary Health Care, which empower subjects regarding the rights of the elderly and that nurses have a fundamental role in the implementation of these actions.