ACTIVE AGING AND QUALITATIVE RESEARCH: AN INTEGRATIVE REVIEW

Resumen

The elderly population in Brazil has been growing significantly in recent years compared to other age groups. Estimates indicate approximately 30 million elderly people, representing 14% of the Brazilian population. As a consequence of the needs and vulnerabilities of the elderly population, public policies and academic research are important for recognizing and regulating the rights of this population. Given the complexity and subjectivity involved in the various dimensions of this process, qualitative research is considered to play an important role, as it works with part of the social reality of the subjects, interpreting their actions within specific contexts. Thus, considering this context that highlights the relevance of qualitative research on active aging, this research aims to analyze the production of knowledge in Brazilian postgraduate programs in qualitative research on active aging. An integrative review was conducted in all its stages, guided by the following question: how has the production of knowledge on active aging in qualitative research been developed in Brazilian postgraduate programs? After this phase, we adopted the phases of literature search, prioritizing the theme based on inclusion and exclusion criteria, and critical analysis of the selected studies. The search was conducted in the Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (BDTD) and the CAPES Theses and Dissertations Catalog, using health sciences descriptors (DeCS/MeSH). The first search yielded 38 studies. In the second stage, the titles and abstracts of all works were read, identifying 16 eligible for full-text reading. In this phase, 4 works were excluded, leaving 12 dissertations for the final sample of the review. In the third stage of the research, thematic analysis was used to organize and describe the results, based on the identification of themes relevant to the purposes of this research, starting from a complete reading of the works, understanding general and significant elements. It was observed that 75% of the dissertations are traditional qualitative research, and 25% are critical qualitative research. It is concluded that the majority of qualitative scientific production in Brazilian postgraduate programs on active aging remains traditional, and despite the concern with addressing numerous factors of aging, there are still gaps that demand deeper investigations, integrating autonomy, social justice, diversity, and the empowerment of older people, focusing on research that makes a difference in the lives of socially oppressed people such as the elderly.