Reynsla aldraðra, sem búsettir eru á eigin heimili, af heilbrigði og af því hvað viðheldur og eflir heilsu á efri árum
Year: 2009
Type: article
Abstract: Background. Nurses and other health professionals need to know which factors can affect older people’s health as that can make analysis of their needs easier. Goal-directed work aimed at improving the health of older people requires an appreciation of their own perception of health and factors influencing health. Objective. The main objective of this study was to answer the research question: “How do older, community living people experience health and health maintaining and health promoting factors in old age?” Method. The methodology chosen for the study was the Vancouver-school of doing phenomenology and the results were constructed from 16 interviews with ten participants, five women and five men. Their age ranged from 69 to 87 years. The participants were community living and lived in urban as well as rural areas. Results. The findings describe the participants’ perception of health and their experience of factors that positively and negatively influenced their health and health promotion. The participants took responsibility for their own health and it was important to them to find purpose and joy in life. They emphasized maintaining their proficiency, both mentally and physically. It was important for them to be active in society and find fitting company. Finally, it was important for them to have a role, to contribute in a positive way and to keep their sense of dignity intact. Conclusions. Older community living people experience both positive and negative factors which influence their health. They should be given the opportunity to be responsible for their health. An instrument can be developed based on the data for use in health promoting visits to the elderly, when preparing discharge from hospitals and when older people visit primary health care. Thus individual strengths and challenges could be identified. If older clients would evaluate themselves using the instrument, a basis for dialogue is created and thus increased insight into their context realised
Language: Icelandic
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2271214046