Objective:

to determine how independent elderly persons and their closest family members experience care.

Methodology:

a descriptive and exploratory study, with a qualitative approach, was carried out in Jandaia do Sul, Paraná, Brazil, with 15 independent elderly persons and their respective family members. The data were collected in June 2012, through a semi-structured interview and later subjected to a thematic modality of content analysis.

Results:

the mean age of the elderly persons was 70 ± 9 years and 85% of the participants (13) were female. The mean age of the family members was 45 ± 5 years. 85% (13) of them were female, (9 daughters and 4 daughters-in-law), while the two male family members were children. An analysis of the information made it possible to break the study down into two categories: The independent elderly persons' perception of the care they received, and The family member' perception about the care they provided.

Conclusion:

the independent elderly persons regarded the care provided by the members of their family as authoritarian with the aim of controlling them, which contrasted with the view of the family member who believed that they were caring for and looking after their elderly relatives. This clash between their respective perceptions of the situation tends to make their relationship stressful.

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