The present study was concerned with the social representations of health in the old age. Four groups participated in the study: a group of unhealthy elderly people; a group of healthy elderly people; a group of municipal network health center workers from Florianópolis; and a group of care-takers who helped elderly relatives or friends hospitalized in the University Hospital in Florianópolis. Subjects were interviewed and the contents of their speech production were analyzed through the software Alceste. Results suggest subject’s dissatisfaction with policies designed to attend the elderly population with health problems. They also indicated that the social representations theoretical approach was useful to diagnose the needs of elderly group interview.
Social representations; Health; Old age
