Overview of the academia da saúde program and healthy aging: an integrative review

Abstract

The Academia da Saúde Program is a health promotion and care production strategy that works with the implementation of poles, places that are environments of inclusion, social participation, leisure and health education. Estimates indicate that in the coming decades the elderly population will reach 34.6% of the Brazilian population, in this sense one of the strategies recommended by the Pan American Health Organization and the World Health Organization is to have the elderly as the center of plans to promote the healthy aging. In this sense, Health Academies are of substantial importance. Therefore, this study aimed, through an integrative literature review, to elucidate what scientific publications say about the participation of the elderly in Health Academies. The criteria used were (health academies) AND (elderly) AND (Brazil); (health academies) AND (elderly) in PubMed, Virtual Health Library and Brazilian Portal of Publications and Scientific Data in Open Access databases, with the selection of the Portuguese language and period from 2016 to 2022. After the exclusion criteria, they were analyzed 5 articles. It is observed that the program assists in improving balance, reducing the consumption of ultra-processed foods, fats and sugars, reducing cognitive losses, providing bodily, cognitive and emotional well-being to the elderly. The low adherence of men stands out; the small number of municipalities with active hubs and the absence of a national database with information on the program's operation and its participants.