OBJECTIVE: To describe the social network of support for stomized elderly people, represented by eco-maps of the multiple supporting relationships according to the Complexity referential. METHODS: Case study, carried out in a stomatherapy service at a university hospital in the Southern region of Brazil. Patients were four elderly stomized people, three women and one man, interviewed at their homes. RESULTS: The importance of family support, friend/neighbor network, stomatherapy service with its workers/interns of other stomized people in the care for elderly stomized people became evident. Although the Basic Health Unit is the entry door for the Single Health System service, the subjects of this study sought care for their health needs in the hospital itself. CONCLUSION: The social network of support reveals itself through relationships and interactions inserted in the complex social system. Care relationships are present in this social network of support to elderly stomized people and their families.
Surgical stomas; Aged; Old age assistance; Ostomy; Social support
