Objective: identifying conditions of individual vulnerability in older adults and investigating the relationship with health indicators through a household survey. Method: a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted with 368 older adults attended by the Family Health Strategy. Data collection was performed through a structured interview, supported by instruments that include sociodemographic characterization, health indicators and the Vulnerable Elders Survey. A descriptive data analysis and Person's chi-square test were also performed. Results: a prevalence of 52.2% individual vulnerability was found among older adults, in addition to an association with health problems, negative self-perception of health, difficulty with mobility and in performing activities of daily living. Conclusion: identifying vulnerability among the aged population is a relevant initiative for the adequacy of health policies and programs that prioritize the promotion of aging with the maintenance of functional capacity.

Objective: To analyze the concept of vulnerability of the elderly. Method: A concept analysis, according to the method proposed by Walker and Avant, operationalized through integrative review through search in scientific data portals using the Descriptors: Health vulnerability, aged, health services for the aged, health of the elderly, vulnerable populations and geriatric health services. To compose the literary corpus, 36 studies were selected. Results: Concept antecedents, as well as its attributes, were identified in individual, social and programmatic characteristics, which make up the characteristics of “vulnerability of the elderly”, besides consequences of the phenomenon. These characteristics were analyzed with emphasis on aspects that contribute to the process of vulnerability of the elderly. Conclusion: The study demonstrated the multidimensionality of the phenomena studied, highlighting the peculiarities of vulnerability during aging. However, there is a need for further studies on the construct.

Objective: to analyze the Theory of Unpleasant Symptoms according to the model proposed by Walker and Avant. Method: a descriptive-reflexive study developed in the first half of 2016. He used the first five phases proposed by the Walker and Avant model: identification of the origins of the theory; examination of the meaning of the theory; logical adequacy; utility; degree of generalization and parsimony of theory. Results: the study allowed the reflection on the Theory of Unpleasant Symptoms, considering the multidimensionality of the symptoms and the potential stimulation between them. It was identified the relations between the main concepts used to construct the theory: physiological, psychological and situational factors, followed by performance, suffering, duration, quality, intensity and unpleasant symptoms. Conclusion: the Theory of Unpleasant Symptoms presents a structured theoretical framework, presenting logical meaning, through well-defined concepts and relations, which make possible its use in practice, teaching and nursing research.

Objectives: Accumulating evidence shows depression as a risk factor for frailty, but studies are mainly population-based and widely differ in their assessment of either depression or frailty. We investigated the association between depression and frailty among geriatric outpatients using different assessment instruments for both conditions. Method: Among 315 geriatric outpatients (mean age 72.1 years, 68.3% female sex) participating the MiMiCS-FRAIL cohort study, major and subthreshold depression were measured with psychiatric diagnostic interview according to DSM-5 criteria (SCID-5) as well as with instruments to screen and measure severity of depressive symptoms (GDS-15 and PHQ-9). Frailty was assessed according to a screening instrument (FRAIL-BR) and a multidimensional Frailty Index (FI-36 items). Multiple logistic and linear regression were performed to assess the association between depression (independent variable) and frailty (dependent variable) adjusted for confounders. Results: Frailty prevalence in patients with no, subthreshold or major depressive disorder increases from either 14.5%, 46.5% to 65.1% when using the FRAIL-BR questionnaire, and from 10.2%, 20.9%, to 30.2% when using the FI-36 index. These association remain nearly the same when adjusted for covariates. Both the FRAIL-BR and the FI-36 were strongly associated with major depressive disorder, subthreshold depression, and depressive symptoms by PHQ-9 and GDS-15. Conclusion: Late life depression and frailty are associated in a dose-dependent manner, irrespective of the used definitions. Nonetheless, to avoid residual confounding, future research on underlying biological mechanisms should preferably be based on formal psychiatric diagnoses and objectively assessment frailty status.

Introduction: The aging process is related to the multidimensional changes that converge on the involvement of disability and caring dependency, thus corroborating with the loss of independence in older people. Active aging emerges as a strategy to achieve the quality of life, being permeated and influenced by determinant factors such as personal and behavioral. Objective: Measure the determinants factors personal and behavioral of active aging among the elderly. Methods: A descriptive and exploratory study with a quantitative approach, developed with assisted elderly in the Integral Care Center for Elderly Health in the city of João Pessoa, PB, Brazil. The sample consisted by 235 elderly. Data collection was conducted from October to December 2014, through interviews subsidized by a structured instrument covering related information to the proposed objective. Data were analyzed from the quantitative approach using descriptive statistics of unvaried nature for both variables, including frequency measures, from position and dispersion. To do this, was used the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences Computer System-SPSS version 20.0. Results: It was verified that the majority of the sample were female (68.1%) with a predominance of the age group from 60 to 69 (59.1%). As for the personal determinants was found the hypertension (28.4%), osteoporosis (20.4%) and arthritis (19.2%) as the most prevalent morbidities, in addition to the falls occurrence (41.