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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Promoting independence
— but promoting what and how? | | Author(s) | Jenny Secker, Robert Hill, Louise Villeneau |
| Journal title | Ageing and Society, vol 23, part 3, May 2003 |
| Pages | pp 375-391 |
| Keywords | Independence ; Social policy ; Living in the community ; Attitude ; Literature reviews. |
| Annotation | 'Promoting independence' is a central theme of recent UK health and social care policy development but is rarely defined. Instead, it is generally assumed that we know what independence means. This paper is based on a review of the literature on independence in older age, and examines the terms and meanings. Whilst the most common conceptualisation equates independence with the absence of reliance on others, for older people themselves independence is a broader concept that encompasses not only self-reliance but also self-esteem, self-determination, purpose in life, personal growth and continuity of the self. Drawing on previous work in the field of health promotion, a model is put forward that takes older people's views into account, and that reconceptualises independence as two intersecting dimensions representing levels of dependence and levels of independence. While dependence equates with reliance on others, independence can be seen as subjectively self-assessed lived experience. Thus it becomes possible to combine high levels of dependence with high levels of experienced or felt independence, a particularly pertinent combination for service providers. The ways in which independence thus conceptualised can be promoted at the individual, institutional, community and societal levels are examined. (KJ/RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-030530207 A |
| Classmark | C3: TM2: K4: DP: 64A |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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