Social support networks and health conditions of elderly female family members of military police officers in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

This article investigates the health conditions and social support networks of elderly female family members of Military Police Officers in the State of Rio de Janeiro. This is a qualitative, exploratory study that involved nine semi-structured interviews with elderly women aged 60 or older, family members (four mothers), and dependents (three widows and two wives) of active-duty, veteran, or deceased military police officers-seven enlisted men and four officers. The data were subjected to thematic content analysis. They suffer impacts on their physical and mental health: due to premature loss resulting from homicide (two), other causes (two) of police officer deaths, and changes (two) in their place of residence due to violence (threats and risk to life). Support from informal networks, especially family, was found to predominate. Improvements in the corporation's health services and in the working conditions of military police officers were suggested. It is concluded that access to a formal support network combined with an informal support network can reduce harm to physical and mental health and improve the living conditions of older women.