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Abstract

Gerontology & Geriatrics Studies

Social Death of Finitude in the Life of Institutionalized Elderly

Submission: January 25, 2018; Published: February 02, 2018

DOI: 10.31031/GGS.2018.02.000527

ISSN: 2578-0093
Volume2 Issue1

Abstract

The concept of social death is defined by literature as the stage where the person is separated from social existence, when a person with social identity becomes a non-person. By this dimension, social death as a phenomenon is associated with diverse meanings and understandings, but in its centrality are the values of the social context, of culture and of its symbolic universes [1]. The understanding of finitude, in development theory, refers to processes of disengagement, autofocus and revision of life, concepts that are linked to reminiscences and the practice of uniting memory, subjectivity and the right to be aware of the last stage of life [2]. This communication addresses a reflection about how institutionalization of the elderly affects bio-psychosocially and how urgent is the design of innovative strategies regarding the right of the institutionalized elderly to receive care that respects their socio-cultural and spiritual identity, contemplating the right to a valid hearing on the existential content of finitude.

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