Sixsmith J, Sixsmith A, Fänge A Malmgren, Naumann D, Kucsera C, Tomsone S, Haak M, Dahlin-Ivanoff S, Woolrych R
University of Northampton, Park Campus, Boughton Green Road, Northampton, England; Simon Fraser University, Harbour Centre, West Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Gerontology Research Centre, Simon Fraser University, West Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Soc Sci Med. 2014 Apr;106:1-9. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.01.006. Epub 2014 Jan 21.
This paper reports on in-depth research, using a grounded theory approach, to examine the ways in which very old people perceive healthy ageing in the context of living alone at home within urban settings in five European countries. This qualitative study was part of a cross-national project entitled ENABLE-AGE which examined the relationship between home and healthy ageing. Interviews explored the notion of healthy ageing, the meaning and importance of home, conceptualisations of independence and autonomy and links between healthy ageing and home. Data analysis identified five ways in which older people constructed healthy ageing: home and keeping active; managing lifestyles, health and illness; balancing social life; and balancing material and financial circumstances. Older people reflected on their everyday lives at home in terms of being engaged in purposeful, meaningful action and evaluated healthy ageing in relation to the symbolic and practical affordances of the home, contextualised within constructions of their national context. The research suggests that older people perceive healthy ageing as an active achievement, created through individual, personal effort and supported through social ties despite the health, financial and social decline associated with growing older. The physicality and spatiality of home provided the context for establishing and evaluating the notion of healthy ageing, whilst the experienced relationship between home, life history and identity created a meaningful space within which healthy ageing was negotiated.
本文报告了一项深入研究，采用扎根理论方法，考察在五个欧洲国家城市环境中独自居家生活的老年人如何看待健康老龄化。这项定性研究是名为“ENABLE-AGE”的跨国项目的一部分，该项目研究了家庭与健康老龄化之间的关系。访谈探讨了健康老龄化的概念、家的意义和重要性、独立与自主的概念，以及健康老龄化与家之间的联系。数据分析确定了老年人构建健康老龄化的五种方式：居家与保持活力；管理生活方式、健康与疾病；平衡社交生活；平衡物质与经济状况。老年人从参与有目的、有意义的行动的角度反思他们在家中的日常生活，并根据家的象征意义和实际便利条件，结合其国家背景的构建来评估健康老龄化。研究表明，尽管随着年龄增长会出现健康、经济和社会方面的衰退，但老年人将健康老龄化视为一种积极的成就，是通过个人努力实现的，并得到社会关系的支持。家的物质性和空间性为确立和评估健康老龄化的概念提供了背景，而家、生活史和身份之间的经验关系创造了一个有意义的空间，在其中人们对健康老龄化进行协商。
