Bioethical interactions: The art of treating the elderly well

Purpose/Context. To know how the older adult needs to be treated, to identify the bioethical resources involved in well-treatment interactions, and to determine that the presence of bioethical resources in interactions with older adults favors the perception of the level of quality of life, thus facilitating a dignified life. Methodology/Approach. A quantitative, cross-sectional, descriptive and corre-lational design was carried out with a stratified probability sampling of 200 cogni-tively fit adults over 60 years of age and from two day centers for older adults in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. Results/Findings. Seventy-nine percent of the older adults live with a partner or family and 21% live alone; in addition, 86.5% reported at least one diagno-sed disease and 45.5% suspected abuse. It is established that older adults need good treatment through: autonomy 25.6% (respect and understanding), solida-rity 31.2% (being taken into account and having patience), subsidiarity 34.2% (attention and care) and sociability 9.0% (support and kindness). A level of quality of life of 87.5 % and life satisfaction of 88.5 % were obtained.Discussion/Conclusions/Contributions. The presence of bioethical resources of autonomy, solidarity, subsidiarity and sociability in interactions with older adults favors the perception of quality of life, thus facilitating a dignified life.