a Department of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Health Sciences , Oslo Metropolitan University , Oslo , Norway.
b Department of Occupational Therapy, Prosthetics and Orthotics, Faculty of Health Sciences , Oslo Metropolitan University , Oslo , Norway.
Physiother Theory Pract. 2019 Jul;35(7):651-662. doi: 10.1080/09593985.2018.1456584. Epub 2018 Mar 30.
Exploring older people's evocation of their positive experiences of aging has been proposed as a counterweight to the Western stereotype of aging as a process of decline. The aim of this article is to explore how aging women, who participate regularly in group exercise classes, perceive their own bodies and the bodies of others. This article reports on the findings from interviews with 16 women between the age of 70 and 85. We analyzed the data using qualitative content analysis. Two overarching and interrelated themes concerning body perception emerged from the interviews: "The aging body and appearance" and "The body as subject and object." The binary discourse of old age, as either a decline or a success appears in our findings. The training contributes to a sense of well-being experienced through perceived increased physical abilities, self- image and self-esteem. Physical ability was perceived as being more important than appearance by the participants in this study, considering their preconception of an association between declining health, abilities, and older age. Involvement in physical activity appears to play a significant role in the perception of the women's own aging. Although physical attractiveness is a desirable outcome, the most important positive impact of the group exercise was related to increased social belonging and well-being, physical abilities, and capabilities. Thus implications for practice suggests that an intensive group training contributes to the opinion that an aging body is not necessarily a barrier to positive and successful aging.
探索老年人对积极老龄化体验的回忆，被认为是对西方老龄化衰退刻板印象的一种抗衡。本文旨在探讨经常参加团体运动课程的老年女性如何看待自己和他人的身体。本文报告了对 16 名年龄在 70 岁至 85 岁之间的女性进行访谈的结果。我们使用定性内容分析对数据进行了分析。访谈中出现了两个关于身体感知的总体且相互关联的主题：“衰老的身体和外表”和“身体作为主体和客体”。我们的研究结果表明，老年的二元话语，要么是衰退，要么是成功。培训通过感知到的身体能力、自我形象和自尊的提高，带来了幸福感。参与者认为，与健康、能力和年龄增长相关的下降相比，身体能力比外表更重要。参与体育活动似乎对女性对自身衰老的认知起着重要作用。尽管外表吸引力是一个理想的结果，但团体运动最积极的影响与增强的社会归属感和幸福感、身体能力和能力有关。因此，对实践的影响表明，密集的团体训练有助于形成这样一种观点，即衰老的身体不一定是积极和成功老龄化的障碍。
