Objective:

To analyze the actions taken by caregivers of the elderly aimed at long-stay institutions for elderly residents (LSIE) in Brazil.

Methodology:

Qualitative study with quantitative data analysis, classified as observational and analytical, developed in 36 (LSIE) selected in 11 Brazilian municipalities of medium and large size, distributed in the 5 Brazilian geographic regions. Interviews were carried out with the care-givers from 2008 to 2011. The analysis of the discursive material (corpus) was mediated by quantitative analysis software of textual data, Analyse lexicale par Contexte d'un Ensemble de Segments de Texte (ALCESTE), version 4.9 for Windows.

Results:

The participants were 117 elderly institutionalized caregivers of LSIE. Most caregivers are female and work in philanthropic institutions. The textual material originated 5 semantic classes, which were divided into two fundamental areas. The first area was called Assistance to the health of institutionalized elderly and the second area Usual activities of caregivers in LSIE.

Conclusions:

The speeches showed that the main actions carried out are related to direct care to the elderly, such as food, personal hygiene -oral and general- and medication administration. In addition, oral health occupies a place of relevance for caregivers, despite the fact that they report difficulties to perform this practice.

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