Older people living at home: experiences of healthy ageing.

Astrid Fjell,Kristin Ådnøy Eriksen,Monica Hermann,Seiger Berit Cronfalk,Anne-Marie Boström

doi:10.1017/s1463423621000049

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate how old persons perceived their life to be, how they viewed the ageing process and their need of health care and societal support. The purpose of WHO's Healthy Ageing strategy and development of age-friendly environments is to support physiological and psychosocial changes in old persons by facilitating basic needs. Interventions to operationalize these needs in older people living at home are often developed from a professional perspective and to a small extent involves the perceptions, experience and expectations of the older persons. This qualitative study has an explorative design using focus group discussions to collect data. In all, 34 persons between 69 and 93 years of age participated in seven group discussions. The interviews were analyzed using inductive manifest content analysis. The main results suggest that most old persons enjoyed life and wished it to continue for as long as possible. Important was to sustain networks and to feel useful. Unexpected changes were described as threats and the need to use health care services was associated with illness and being dependent. The result is presented in three categories with sub-categories: 'Embracing life', 'Dealing with challenges' and 'Considering the future'.

Highlights

In much of the literature, old age is associated with declining health through illnesses and functional decline (Clegg et al, 2013; Morley et al, 2013)
Healthy ageing is promoted by The World Health Organization (WHO) as a strategy on ageing and defined as ‘the process of developing and maintaining the functional ability that enables well-being in older age’ (World Health Organization, 2015)
Lette et al (2017) showed that old persons still living at home had different views about what was important in life compared to that of health care professionals

Summary

Introduction

In much of the literature, old age is associated with declining health through illnesses and functional decline (Clegg et al, 2013; Morley et al, 2013). The purpose is to support physiological and psychosocial changes in old persons by facilitating their basic needs (World Health Organization, 2015; Beard et al, 2016). One such area of development is an age-friendly environment with the purpose to promote health and support to old people (Beard et al, 2016; Klimova et al, 2016). The lack of knowledge is described by Kontis et al (2017) and Beard et al (2016) who point out the need for knowledge about ageing among professionals in health care and social services

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