Bjerkmo Lena, Helgesen Ann Karin, Blix Bodil H
Department of Health and Care Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, N-9037, Norway.
Faculty of Health, Welfare, and Organisation, Østfold University College, Halden, N-1757, Norway.
Risk Manag Healthc Policy. 2022 Jul 1;15:1283-1292. doi: 10.2147/RMHP.S367079. eCollection 2022.
Our aim in this study was to explore how significant others experience being "significant" to older adults living alone with frailty in rural Arctic areas in northern Norway. The proportion of older adults in the population is larger and growing faster in rural- than in urban areas. Due to out-migration of the younger generations, many significant others live far from the older adults.
Our results are based on a thematic analysis of semistructured interviews with ten persons identified as significant others by older adults in rural Arctic Norway.
The analysis resulted in two main themes and five subthemes: 1. Restoring and maintaining balance in the older adult's life with the following three subthemes: 1.1. balancing between the older adult's capacity and the physical environment; 1.2. emotional support; and 1.3. balancing between the older adult's need for help and the services offered; and 2. Maintaining balance in one's own life with the following two subthemes: 2.1. family and working life; and 2.2. tensions between family members. The rural Arctic context in which the older adult lived was relevant to varying degrees in all themes.
Our results showed that experiences of being the significant other involve a continuous balancing act affected by the older adult's life situation, the significant other's own life and the rural Arctic context in which the older adult lives. Our study adds to previous conceptualizations of frailty as both a bodily and a relational phenomenon framed by materialities, the understanding of frailty as also a situated phenomenon.
本研究的目的是探讨重要他人对于挪威北部北极地区独自生活且身体虚弱的老年人而言，“重要”体现在哪些方面。农村地区老年人口在总人口中的占比更大，且增长速度快于城市地区。由于年轻一代的外流，许多重要他人居住在离老年人很远的地方。
我们的研究结果基于对挪威北极地区农村老年人认定的十位重要他人进行的半结构化访谈的主题分析。
分析得出两个主要主题和五个子主题：1. 在老年人生活中恢复和维持平衡，包含以下三个子主题：1.1. 在老年人的能力与物理环境之间取得平衡；1.2. 情感支持；1.3. 在老年人的求助需求与所提供的服务之间取得平衡；以及2. 在自身生活中维持平衡，包含以下两个子主题：2.1. 家庭与工作生活；2.2. 家庭成员之间的紧张关系。老年人生活的北极农村背景在所有主题中都具有不同程度的相关性。
我们的研究结果表明，作为重要他人的经历涉及一种持续的平衡行为，这种行为受到老年人的生活状况、重要他人自身的生活以及老年人生活的北极农村背景的影响。我们的研究丰富了以往将身体虚弱视为一种由物质性构建的身体和关系现象的概念，也丰富了将身体虚弱视为一种情境现象的理解。
