Abstract
People aging with spinal cord injury (SCI) develop medical problems commonly associated with the aging process at a younger age than the general population. However, research about how the life story changes and how meaning will be experienced in occupations is lacking. The aim was to describe and offer an explanation of how a man experienced meaning in everyday occupations while aging with an SCI. Four narrative interviews were performed over a four-year period, with a man in his fifties, who lived with SCI for 39 years. The narrative analysis generated an overall plot, named “To Work Just Like Anyone Else,” and gives a picture of his experiences, thoughts, and reflections about meaning in occupations, from when he became injured to the present, and in relation to his future. His life story is characterized by secondary health complications, and his experiences of negotiating with the aging body and making choices to continue working. Further, how occupational risk factors, e.g., imbalance, alienation, and deprivation, occur as a result of lack of rehabilitation and support from social systems is addressed. Future research should explore how rehabilitation and social systems can support people aging with SCI to experience meaning in everyday occupations and to have balance in everyday life.
Highlights
Aging is an inescapable phenomenon for everyone, and yet in the general population, people usually remain independent in their advanced years [1]
The image of modern senior citizens shows an active and self-realized lifestyle, being engaged in meaningful activities, with the most distinctive feature being that they are independent and autonomous, without any significant illnesses or disabilities [2,3,4]. This period has been called the third age, a term introduced by Laslett [5], referring to a period in life between the second age of professional work and family responsibilities, and the fourth age. The latter is characterized by dependency, disease, and disability, and occurs usually when the general population in the Western world is in their 80s [1,5,6], that is in contrast to the aging of people with disabilities, such as spinal cord injuries (SCIs)
The findings shed light on different perspectives of meaning in everyday occupations while aging with SCI. It further explains how physical deterioration, due to secondary health complications, is creating an everyday life that is characterized by negotiation with the aging body and making choices in order to continue as a worker and to find meaning
Summary
Aging is an inescapable phenomenon for everyone, and yet in the general population, people usually remain independent in their advanced years [1]. The image of modern senior citizens shows an active and self-realized lifestyle, being engaged in meaningful activities, with the most distinctive feature being that they are independent and autonomous, without any significant illnesses or disabilities [2,3,4] This period has been called the third age, a term introduced by Laslett [5], referring to a period in life between the second age of professional work and family responsibilities, and the fourth age. The latter is characterized by dependency, disease, and disability, and occurs usually when the general population in the Western world is in their 80s [1,5,6], that is in contrast to the aging of people with disabilities, such as spinal cord injuries (SCIs). As a result of physical deterioration, people with
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