(In)dependence of elderly people at their home in performing basic activities of daily living

We aimed to outline the (in)dependence in performing basic activities of daily living of elderly people at home; apply educational geronto-technology to minimize specific functional loss; identify functional changes of these people, after using educational geronto-technology. This is a descriptive quantitative research, carried out in Rio Grande-RS, Brazil, with 109 elderly in three stages, from February 2011 to April 2012, using structured interview and the Katz Index. Data were grouped for statistical/descriptive treatment. First stage: female (69.7%), aged 60-69 years (43.0%), married (42.2%). Second stage: applying educational geronto-technology. Third stage: profile similarity of elderly people regarding the first stage. In performing basic activities of daily living, 21% of the elderly presented some dependence in the two data collections, highlighting the (urinary) continence function. Nurses need to understand the functional assessment of the elderly as a guiding tool for the planning and implementation of care.