Holding momentum: a grounded theory study of strategies for sustaining living at home in older persons

ABSTRACT

Purpose: Government strategies are putting increasing emphasis on sustaining the capacity of older persons to continue living independently in their own homes to ease strain on aged care services. The aim of this study was to understand the experiences and strategies that older people utilize to remain living at home from their own perspective.

Methods: A grounded theory methodology was used to explore the actions and strategies used by persons over the age of 65 to enable them to remain living in their own homes. Data were collected from 21 women and men in three focus group discussions and 10 in-depth semi-structured interviews.

Results: The data revealed that the central process participants used to hold momentum and sustain living at home involves a circular process in which older people acknowledge change and make ongoing evaluations and decisions about ageing at home.

Conclusion: These findings have implications for informing policy and service provision by identifying appropriate resources and services to promote successful ageing at home.

KEYWORDS:

• Ageing
• ageing in place
• healthy ageing
• home
• independence
• successful ageing

Acknowledgments

This manuscript is based on part of a thesis by the first author.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

Notes on contributors

Deborah Hatcher

Deborah Hatcher is Professor in the Dean of the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Western Sydney University. Deborah is a registered nurse and experienced academic with 30 years of program co-ordination and teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate level, in Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Esther Chang

Esther Chang is Professor of Nursing within the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Western Sydney University.

Virginia Schmied

Virginia Schmied is Professor in the School of Nursing and Midwifery and the Family and Community Health (FaCH) research group. She is a registered midwife and a registered nurse with experience extends across clinical practice, education, research and consultancy.

Sandra Garrido

Sandra Garrido is a NHMRC-ARC Dementia Research Development Fellow at the MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour & Development at Western Sydney University. Her work focuses on psycho-social interventions for supporting people with dementia and their caregivers.