NARRATIVA CLÍNICA La dependencia de las personas mayores Influencia en las familias y la sociedad actual Natalia Luque Giménez Diplomada en Enfermería. Residencia Reyes de Aragón. Zaragoza, España Manuscrito recibido el 23.1.2012 Manuscrito aceptado el 5.11.2012 Archivos de la Memoria 2013; (10 fasc. 3) Cómo citar este documento Luque Giménez, Natalia. La dependencia de las personas mayores: Influencia en las familias y la sociedad actual. Arch Memoria [en línea]. 2013; (10 fasc. 3). Disponible en
Así, la vida de Elena dio un cambio radical. Perdió la libertad de la que disponía para disfrutar de su tiempo libre por la dependencia de sus padres. A nivel laboral se vio obligada a sacrificar su negocio personal para pasar a estar contratada por otras empresas con turnos en jornada parcial, ya que, ello le permitiría atenderlos y no tener que llevarlos a ninguna institución.
A través de la narrativa clínica se expone de forma reflexiva y crítica las vivencias de esta cuidadora. Destaca su capacidad para adaptarse a la adversidad de la situación familiar, la reciprocidad que se desprende de sus actos como hija, así como, el respeto por los deseos expresos de sus padres.
Abstract (The depence of the elderly: Impact on families and society) Helen is a 46-odl-single women and an only daughter, who decided to go out of her village and open her own business in the town, but one day when her parents became older they needed a person for the activities of the daily life. Mainly her mother, who started losing memory and having an advanced Alzheimer in the end. On the other hand her father, with heart problems remained with treatment, but he had been smoking two packets of cigarettes a day and that's why his right leg had been amputated. Both of them lived in their village but they had to go to town to their daughter's house to be able to be assisted at the personal sanitary level.
This way Helen's life suffered a radical change, losing the freedom that she had enjoyed, she lacked her free time to travel because of her parent's dependence and being obliged to close the business she had run and to be hired by companies by different shifts at part-time-jobs to be able to assist them and not to have to take them to an institution while she could take charge of them.
Across the clinical narrative, there are exposed of reflexive and critical form the experiences of these caregivers. Stands out her aptitude to adapt to the adversity of the familiar situation, and the reciprocity that part with her acts as daughter, as well as, for the express desires of her parents.