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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Sustaining the self in the "fourth age"
— a case study | | Author(s) | Denise Tanner |
| Journal title | Quality in Ageing and Older Adults, vol 17, no 3, 2016 |
| Publisher | Emerald, 2016 |
| Pages | pp 157-167 |
| Source | www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/qaoa.htm |
| Keywords | Older women ; Nonagenarians ; Quality of life ; Well being ; Personality ; Self esteem ; Case studies. |
| Annotation | The lived experience of someone in advanced age ("Harriet") across a 15 year time period is explored, to illuminate from her perspective the factors that support and jeopardise mental well-being in the fourth age. The paper is based on unstructured narrative interviews with "Harriet", who was originally interviewed for a previous research study 15 years ago. At that time she was aged 82; she is now aged 97. This paper explores themes of change and continuity in her experience of ageing, with a view to re-evaluating the model of sustaining the self-developed in the earlier study and comparing the findings with current conceptions of the fourth age. Harriet's previous efforts to remain independent have been replaced by an acceptance of dependency and diminished social relationships and activity. However, she retains significant threads of continuity with her earlier life, and employs cognitive strategies that enable contentment. Her experience of advanced old age fits conceptions of neither the third nor fourth age, indicating the need for more sophisticated and nuanced understandings. This paper thus renders visible those factors that have promoted and/or undermined a nonagenarian woman's mental well-being, and in generating insights that can be applied more generally to experiences of advanced age. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-170512201 A |
| Classmark | BD: BBR: F:59: D:F:5HH: DK: DPA: 69P |
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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