Presuming that greater comprehension of elderly people's imaginations about their aging will provide nurses knowledge concerning the care offered them, the possibilities of innovation in nursing practice were investigated using sociopoetics with elderly people in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The results demonstrated the existence of dichotomies of the imaginary in aging: the old versus the elderly; acceptance versus denial of aging, culminating in the wished versus unwished in aging. It was concluded that people via the continuity of life don't want be old (to live that which is unwished, with discomfort), but they want to become elderly (to become old with welfare), making it possible to comprehend what is contained in the process of acceptance and denial of aging. This evidence guides us to adopt the knowledge produced in this sociopoetical care/research directed for the quality of life of elderly people.
Aging health; Aged; Nursing care-methods; Nursing; Nursing research-methods
