Indicators of Preclinical Disability: Women's Experiences of an Aging Body

Abstract

This paper is derived from a larger multimethod longitudinal study of women's bodily experiences and coping practices before the onset of disability. Twelve women participated in repeated performance measures, in-depth interviews of daily life and physically challenging events, and observations of daily activities conducted over 18 months. Interpretive phenomenological analysis of textual data showed that women's bodies provided multiple indicators or symptoms of preclinical disability. These indicators informed the women that their body was out of synch with their environment; conspicuous during social activities; and vulnerable to becoming dependent on others, technology, or assistive devices to accomplish daily activities. Greater attention to bodily indicators or symptoms may offer a practical method for clinicians to identify preclinical disability.

KEYWORDS:

• aging
• women
• preclinical disability
• interpretive phenomenology
• symptoms
• body experiences

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Funded by NINR F31NR008985. I would like to thank Lee Smith, DNSc, RN, professor at Saint Louis University for her support and shared expertise during the writing of this article.

Notes

QSR International. (2006). NVivo7. Cambridge, MA.