Thesis (Ph. D.)--Georgia State University, 2007. / Title from file title page. James R. Alm, committee chair; Sally Wallace, Erdal Tekin, David P. Richardson, Jorge L. Martinez-Vazquez, committee members. Electronic text (144 p.) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed June 11, 2008. Includes bibliographical references (p. 137-143).

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T18:47:16Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Vivian Andrade Araujo.pdf: 1597788 bytes, checksum: 4031a40ece1dd683fee828b564e4caeb (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-02-06 / In the last three decades of the twentieth century, aging and old age began to draw attention as important issues for society. The theme has received the most varied considerations. In this study we focus on the possibilities of a very satisfactory aging experience of life. To perform this research we collected life stories of people over 80 years old to establish relations between the stories of each the subjects and how they live their old age. We identified significant moments, how they built their stories and the recurrence among the participants. These are revealed, for instance, by the appreciation of stories occurring within the family circus, by education as a possibility of growth and emancipation and even so by the difficulties faced during their lives. One of the goals was to understand, from the speech of the subjects, the way old age emerges in their stories and also identify the perceptions of old age and aging with the people over 80 years of age ( older elderly according to IBGE classification). Regarding this a surprise happened: only a few aspects of aging and old age appeared, the most frequent thing was life as it is presented, independent of the period of life where the subject is in. It was observed that the subjects live what life presents for them or what they intended to. Herein lies the meaning of life for them, to live life without pre-determinations or prejudices; life rises and it has to be lived, the good parts and also the bad / Desde as três últimas décadas do Século XX o envelhecimento e a velhice passaram a chamar atenção como assuntos importantes para a sociedade. Como tema vem recebendo sendo objeto das mais variadas considerações. Neste trabalho focamos as possibilidades de uma velhice satisfatória ou bem vivida. Para realizar a presente pesquisa coletamos histórias de vida de pessoas com mais de oitenta anos para estabelecer relações entre as histórias de vida de cada um dos sujeitos e a forma como vivem suas velhices. Identificamos os momentos significativos, como construíram suas histórias e as recorrências entre os participantes. Estas últimas se revelam, por exemplo, na valorização das histórias ocorridas no seio familiar, no estudo como possibilidade de crescimento e emancipação e até mesmo nas dificuldades encontradas durante a história. Um dos objetivos que tínhamos era compreender, a partir da fala dos sujeitos, a forma como a velhice emerge nas histórias de vida dos sujeitos e identificar as percepções de envelhecimento e velhice junto a pessoas com mais de 80 anos de idade ( idosos mais idosos , segundo classificação do IBGE), neste quesito tivemos uma surpresa: poucos aspectos do envelhecimento ou da velhice apareceram; o que mais apareceu foi a vida tal qual ela se apresenta, independente da fase da vida em que o sujeito se encontra. Observou-se que os sujeitos vivem aquilo que a vida lhe apresenta ou aquilo que tinha como objetivo. Nisto reside o sentido da vida para eles, viver a vida sem predeterminações ou préjulgamentos; a vida surge e se vive, tanto o que acontece de bom, quanto o que acontece de ruim

Cette thèse a pour objet les habitats alternatifs aux dispositifs gérontologiques institués pour personnes âgées « fragiles » et « dépendantes ». Ces formules résidentielles s’inscrivent dans le prolongement d’un mouvement à contre-courant amorcé en France dès la fin des années 1970. Dans une comparaison critique avec les infrastructures existantes, structurées autour des deux pôles du maintien à domicile et de l’hébergement institutionnel, il s’agit pour les porteurs de projets de réinventer les lieux du vieillir et d’imaginer de nouveaux modèles d’accueil et d’accompagnement viables, si possible, « jusqu’à la mort ». Nous appréhendons ces réalisations novatrices comme des laboratoires d’expérimentation. Les habitats alternatifs amorcent une ouverture du champ des possibles. Cette ouverture suppose de faire un « pas de côté » pour repenser ou se substituer à l’institué et répondre aux besoins jugés insatisfaits ou mal satisfaits des populations vieillissantes « fragiles » et « dépendantes ». Cette recherche s’appuie sur des enquêtes empiriques menées dans plusieurs formules alternatives et sur un corpus de 49 entretiens directifs approfondis avec les différents acteurs qui évoluent dans les lieux (initiateurs, équipes de coordination et de médiation, aidants professionnels, familiaux et familiers, usagers). / This research studies alternative housings for the elderly with frailty and dependence. These new habitats forms have been built in France since the end of the 1970th in order to deal with the shortcomings of the gerontological facilities: the traditional nursing homes, which are highly criticized, and the home-care support. The projects leaders aim to reinvent the place to grow old and to create new welcome and support facilities for the elderly until the end of life. We define these innovated habitats as experimental laboratory which aim to respond, in a different way, the unmet need of the elderly with frailty and dependence.This PhD is based on empirical research conducted in several alternative housings and 49 semi-structured interviews with actors operating in these (projects leaders, coordination and mediation teams, professional families and friend’s caregivers, users). From a comparative and a comprehensive approach, we can address convergence and divergence of the alternative housing, understand the social experiment path, return the logic and the dynamics of reception and support methodologies, evaluate stress points between the modelled field with the initiators and the field with experienced by users, but we can also question the scope and meaning of the gerontological alternative in a broader perspective. Indeed, alterative housings are initiated in a context promoting values like autonomy and self- realization which may be seen as new normative injunctions.