Santana Maria da Silva, Chaves Maia Eulália M
Secretaria Estadual de Educação Cultura e Desporto/SECD/RN, Universidade Estadual Vale do Acarú/RN.
Rev Salud Publica (Bogota). 2009 Mar-Apr;11(2):225-36. doi: 10.1590/s0124-00642009000200007.
This work analysed senior citizens' perception of needs and social values involved in taking physical activity for their own benefit. This study's main aim was to investigate social representations of 3rd age physical activity.
This was a cross-sectional, interdisciplinary qualitative study, underpinned by theoretical-methodological social representation theory. A convenience, non-probabilistic, census-dependent method was used for obtaining the sam-ple of 62 people aged 50 to 78 from north-eastern Brazil. The data were collected by using the free word association technique and analysed by EVOC/2000 software.
Analysing the replies led to three types of elements being identified which were related to the social representation of physical activity as attributed by the elderly: a psychological dimension (represented by happiness, well-being), a social dimension (dancing) and a biophysical dimension (gymnastics, water-gymnastics and health). The term 'happiness' stood out most in the word recall tests. When relating old age to the sample's social representation of physical activity, the study showed that physical activity assumed a preponderant role in the life of the elderly through cyclical appreciation-depreciation, social representation simultaneously and gradually acquiring 'life having more health and quality' from social representation.
The subjects reported a positive association between physical activity, social interaction and well-being. The elderly also believed in physical activity's effects on physical-motor aspects and health. The social representation of physical activity by the group being studied was close to the physical activity's biopsychosocial dimension.
本研究分析了老年人对为自身利益进行体育活动所涉及的需求和社会价值观的认知。本研究的主要目的是调查老年人体育活动的社会表征。
这是一项横断面、跨学科的定性研究，以理论 - 方法论的社会表征理论为基础。采用便利、非概率、依赖普查的方法，从巴西东北部选取了62名年龄在50至78岁之间的人群作为样本。数据通过自由词联想技术收集，并使用EVOC/2000软件进行分析。
对回复的分析确定了与老年人赋予体育活动的社会表征相关的三种类型的元素：心理维度（以幸福、安康为代表）、社会维度（跳舞）和生物物理维度（体操、水中体操和健康）。“幸福”一词在单词回忆测试中最为突出。当将老年与样本对体育活动的社会表征联系起来时，研究表明体育活动通过周期性的赞赏 - 贬低在老年人的生活中发挥着重要作用，社会表征同时并逐渐从社会表征中获得“拥有更健康和高质量的生活”。
受试者报告了体育活动、社会互动和幸福之间的积极关联。老年人也相信体育活动对身体运动方面和健康的影响。被研究群体对体育活动的社会表征接近体育活动的生物心理社会维度。
