Violence against elderly people: characterization of the data reported by the Notification of Injury Information System (SINAN)

Introduction: Violence against the elderly person can be any act, single or repetitive, or omission, that causes harm or discomfort and reduces the quality of life of the elderly. Objective: To identify the demographic characteristics of elderly victims of violence, notified by the Notification of Injury Information System (SINAN) in the municipality of Porto Nacional - TO in the year 2014, to characterize the most reported forms of violence, the place of occurrence, the means of aggression and the relationship with the victim. Method: This is an epidemiological, descriptive and exploratory study with a quantitative approach. The survey was conducted through reports issued by SINAN in Porto Nacional. The study population consisted of 130 reports of violence. Data collection took place in April. The data were released with the help of Excel tables and analyzed through BioEstat 5.0. Result: It was possible to identify that the majority of the elderly were males, with a mean age of 78.3 years, of brown color, who had schooling, married/stable union, retired and had no physical or mental disabilities. In relation to the type of violence suffered by the elderly, physical violence had more notifications. The place of occurrence was in the elderly’s own houses and the relation between aggressor and victim was unknown. Conclusion: The results found in this study evidenced the importance of notifying all the cases and it is suggested a protocol of attendance to people in situation of violence for all the professionals that compose the networks of care, among these, primary care, hospitals, social action department and public prosecutor's office, which could facilitate the identification of signs of violence