The use of the family conference in the conflict resolution of a family with a dependent elderly woman

Abstract

The family conference constitutes an important approach to assessing families with care-dependent elderly people. A health team of the Family Health Center Francisco Domingos da Silva, Fortaleza, Ceará, conducted a family conference to assess a family with a dependent elderly woman. We observed a lack of involvement and resistance of the sons to providing care to the elderly woman. The only son who acted as caregiver felt overburdened and wanted to place his mother in a long-term facility for elderly people. Our goals were to elucidate the rights and duties of family members of dependent elderly and to seek for a better way of distributing the duties related to the care of the dependent elderly person. The family members recognized the importance of the meeting and the role of health professionals in adopting measures to provide better communication among the family members and to improve family dynamics.