Views about aging: old age's distancing from and nearness to the big town

Abstract

The contemporary globalization and urbanization processes together with the need to characterize the profile and needs of the growing number of elderly people all over the world have given a boost to recent interdisciplinary scientific investigations. In the work herein an attempt is made to provide contributions to the understanding of these issues by focusing on the elderly people who live in Sao Paulo City, SP, Brazil. It presents part of the results of a documental qualitative research that was based on the analysis of the content of works of art (paintings) and recorded oral statements both made by elderly people participating in a group of the Artistic Compositions and Occupational Therapy Permanent Program - PACTO - in the year 2001. Based on a conceptual field of interdisciplinary reference, and theorectically and empiracally considering the interfaces between Occupational Therapy, Art and Gerontology, it offers a reflection on the reality pointed out by these elderly: the measuring of their own biological aging is presented together with the consciousness of the reality they live with and the need to keep the affection, solidarity and care relations between aging people.