Dialogues on the body image of the elderly: community empowerment strategy promoting health

Objective: to understand dialogues on body image with the elderly in Primary Health Care. Methods: action research, developed with 15 elderly participants of a coexistence group. The data were obtained by the techniques of photo-elucidation and emancipatory workshop, later submitted to the Descending Hierarchical Classification using the IRaMuTeQ (R) software. Paulo Freire's theoretical-analytical framework was followed. Results: aging reflected a combination between the representative changes of reality, with distorted visions and related to the jovial stereotype. Collective actions signaled that the elderly recognized the changes caused by old age, but these did not prevent them from participating in the group independent of their self-esteem, strengthening the process of empowerment. Conclusion: the concern of beauty and appearance as body representations imposed by society was highlighted, even with the natural marks of aging, the elderly feel satisfied with their body image.