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Old Age, Finitude and Meaning: Reflections on the Care of Older Adults Based on Logotherapy

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Abstract

Due to the steady increase in the number of older adults among the Brazilian population, the aim of the present article is to reflect on the care provided to the elderly based on Viktor Frankl’s logotherapy as an alternative approach to understanding more deeply what this life stage means. For this purpose, demographic data on the population of older adults are provided, together with distinct views on aging and its relationship to the quality of life. Next, logotherapy, from its conceptions about the relationship of the person to finitude and to the person’s possibilities for existence, is presented as a psychological theory likely to improve the understanding of aging and to represent a possible approach to the care of older adults. Based on an understanding of humans as beings of power and therefore as self-transcendent and endowed with the will to meaning, the possibility of psychology investing in the relationship with alterity as the grounds for interventions targeting older adults is emphasized.

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Acknowledgments

This translation from the original manuscript was sponsored by the Federal University of Pará (Universidade Federal do Pará)–Brazil, Office of the Dean of Research and Graduate Education and the Research Support and Development Foundation from the same University. Emanuel Meireles Vieira is supported by the Brazilian Federal Agency for Graduate Support and Evaluation (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior–CAPES), Brazil. Jacqueline de Oliveira Moreira is supported by a Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico–CNPq productivity grant level 2.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Federal University of Pará, Institute of Philosophy and Human Sciences - College of Psychology and Federal University of Minas Gerais, Psychology Graduation Program, (Universidade Federal do Pará - UFPA) (Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais - UFMG), Rua Augusto Corrêa, 01, Guamá, Belém, 66087270, Pará, Brazil

    Emanuel Meireles Vieira

  2. Pontifícal Catholic University of Minas Gerais (Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais–PUC MG), Rua Congonhas, 161, São Pedro, Belo Horizonte, MG, CEP: 30.330-100, Brazil

    Jacqueline de Oliveira Moreira

  3. Pontifícal Catholic University of Minas Gerais (Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais–PUC MG), Rua Itororó, 584 / 301, Padre Eustáquio, Belo Horizonte, MG, CEP: 30.720-450, Brazil

    Rosana Figueiredo Vieira

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  1. Emanuel Meireles Vieira
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  2. Jacqueline de Oliveira Moreira
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Correspondence to Emanuel Meireles Vieira.

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Vieira, E.M., de Oliveira Moreira, J. & Vieira, R.F. Old Age, Finitude and Meaning: Reflections on the Care of Older Adults Based on Logotherapy. Pastoral Psychol 66, 117–128 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11089-016-0700-x

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