Care is a continuous challenge that includes conscious dialogue, negotiation, and attention to detail. The objectives of this article are to identify situations that characterize intrusion into hospitalized elders' personal and territorial space, and situations in which, even though intrusion did take place, the elderly person considered it pleasant. This is an exploratory, descriptive study which was carried out with 30 hospitalized elders with the application of the Feelings Measurement Scale of Territorial and Personal Space Intrusion in a public hospital in the countryside of the State of São Paulo, Brazil in 2007. The situations considered unpleasant that characterize intrusion into territorial space were related to disrespect and to changes in the elders' physical space without previous permission; invasions referring to intrusion into personal space were related to the exposition of intimate parts during the performance of procedures. Pleasant situations, despite intrusion, were those in which there occurred affectionate touches.
Aged; Hospitalization; Nonverbal communication