Population aging in Brazil has increased since the 1980s, as a result of lower mortality
rates, increased longevity and especially lower birth rates. Self-care consists of the
individual's capacity to execute actions, consciously and deliberately, for their benefit to
maintain their life, health, and well-being. It is from this perspective that we recently
started to observe the need to change educational models for the best health care of the
elderly. The most recent vision of the medical practice that is proposed as a resource of
sustainable solutions is called Translational Medicine (MT), being considered an
evolution of Evidence Based Medicine. This vision is based on the association of basic,
social and political sciences with the aim of improving patient care. In this context,
research is needed on better ways to achieve, through education and considering medical
and social demands, the improvement of population health. The objective of this project
was to develop an educational intervention methodology that will give the elderly greater
commitment to health care. This is a quasi-experimental study. The study included 10
elderly people enrolled at the University of Maturity who, after applying questionnaires
for identification and socioeconomic and medical characterization, underwent a pre-test
with the self-care assessment form during the COVID-19 pandemic and with the Scale
Self-Care Capacity Assessment (ASA-A). The educational intervention proposal was
built based on the concepts of TM and a consultation script was elaborated by the authors,
being called RECRIADA methodology. The post-test evaluation showed a positive and
significant result (P = 0.001) for the improvement in the engagement of the elderly in
self-care with health. We conclude that the RECRIADA methodology made it possible
to improve the elderly's self-care. We suggest that other studies can evaluate this
methodology in larger populations, with different characteristics and for a longer period.
We believe that telemedicine supported by educational strategies based on TM can be a
tool to care for the health of the elderly, including self-care.
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