As Representações Sociais de Homens em Processo de Envelhecimento em Situação de Privação de Liberdade: a vivência na pandemia da Covid-19

Abstract

Introduction: The Brazilian Penitentiary System is recognized for its precarious conditions, such as overcrowding in cells, lack of access to basic sanitation and the spread of infectious and contagious diseases. All these issues have worsened in the Covid-9 pandemic, mainly because the main measures to contain the spread of the virus are continued hygiene and social distancing. Some populations become more vulnerable to issues of coping with the pandemic, such as aging men in the prison system. The social and scientific relevance of the dissertation is revealed through the need to contemplate specific public policies for this group that undergoes a process of social exclusion and psychosocial vulnerabilities not only in the pandemic context, but in the entire prison environment. In order to understand the phenomena presented, the Theory of Social Representations-SRT was used, an appropriate theoretical approach for the theme. General Objective: To analyze the Social Representations of men in a situation of deprivation of liberty during the Covid-19 pandemic. The objective of study 1 was to identify the Social Representations about the Covid-19 pandemic experienced by men in the aging process in a situation of deprivation of liberty. The objective of the study 2 To understand the implications of the Covid-19 pandemic on the quality of life of aging men in the prison system. The objective of study 3 was to build an informative booklet that addresses measures to improve the quality of life of people in the aging process within the prison system. Method: This is a qualitative, descriptive and exploratory study, using cross-sectional data and a non-probabilistic sample, with the participation of 15 men deprived of liberty, in the process of aging. The research was carried out in 3 penitentiaries in Piauí. For data collection, a sociodemographic questionnaire, semi-structured interview and the Free Word Association Test (TALP) were used, with inducing words: quality of life in the prison system. All legal, ethical processes were built for the development of the research. The data acquired from the sociodemographic questionnaire were analyzed using the SPSS for Windows software, version 21; the information collected through the TALP was analyzed by the IRAMUTEQ software producing the Prototypical Analysis; the answers obtained from the semi-structured interviews were also analyzed by IRAMUTEQ resulting in the Descending Hierarchical Classification. Results: The Descending Hierarchical Classification (CHD), the main corpus segmented into six branches, which constitute the social representations of men in the aging process within the prison system in the pandemic context. The classes found demarcate the entire process of the Covid-19 pandemic, relating it to the vulnerabilities of aging in prison. The data collected through the TALP made it possible to identify the core elements of the social representations of the quality of life of aging men in prison during the pandemic, in which they are related to health, freedom and aging. These representations are directly associated with the precariousness and vulnerability of the prison system. The other categories found present other aspects related to the promotion of quality of life in the prison system, such as having peace and family presence, issues that were directly affected by the pandemic. The peripheral elements discovered do not differ from the elements of the central nucleus, pointing to a representation of the quality of life in vulnerable and structurally neglected prisons. In general, the importance of public policies aimed specifically at this group is indicated, the creation of measures that can promote quality of life and validate Human Rights in the incarceration of people in the aging process.