Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To find the psychosocial nature of chronic diseases in elderly dependent persons. DESIGN: Transversal, observational study. SETTING: Two urban health districts in Granada and Jaén, Spain. PARTICIPANTS: One hundred five patients included in the Family and Home Care programme for elderly dependent persons. MAIN MEASUREMENTS: The type of chronic illness was analysed through the modified Rolland classification. Types of incapacity, demographic variables and the presence of multi-pathologies were recorded. RESULTS: 47.6% of the 105 participants were between 70 and 79 years old. On their psychosocial nature, 94.2% had some kind of disability, 78% had a gradual start, 61% had a progressive course of disease, and 63.8% had a possibly fatal prognosis. Psychosocial type B -- incapacitating, gradual start, progressive and possibly fatal -- was the most common (44.7%). CONCLUSION: The study of psychosocial type in elderly dependent persons is an important instrument for the analysis of families with chronic illnesses within them. Questions relating to its progressive course and the fatal prognosis may have a more determining prognostic weight.