Introduction:

Aging is a physiological process that generates changes in the health of people over 60 years of age. One of the spheres that is most frequently affected is psychosocial, in which there is loss of independence and functional autonomy.

Objective:

To evaluate the results of an educational program aimed at promoting independence and functional autonomy.

Methods:

A quasi-experimental before-after intervention study was carried out. The universe was 697 older adults residing in the rural parishes of the Penipe canton in the Chimborazo province. The sample was made up of 249 elderly people. An educational program was applied for 8 months that included as a variable the level of knowledge about healthy habits and lifestyles and dependency. The McNemar test was used to identify changes in the level of knowledge about habits and lifestyles.

Results:

Average age of 68.32 years, predominance of female sex (55.02%) and with associated comorbidities (73.49%). Some type of dependency was identified in 42.97% of the subjects, with a predominance of low dependency (45.79%). During the pretest, older adults with a low level of knowledge about healthy habits and lifestyles predominated (63.05%). During the posttest, the average level of knowledge predominated (51.81%).

Conclusions:

The educational program improves the level of knowledge about the importance of adopting healthy habits and lifestyles to promote independence and functional autonomy.

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