Investigating Quality of Life from the Perspectives of Older Adults in Local Communities

ABSTRACT

Governments are increasingly interested in measuring quality of life (QoL) among older adults to inform policy. We demonstrate the advantages of situating an investigation of QoL in local contexts through a thematic analysis of focus group data collected in Chatham-Kent, Ontario, Canada. Local and broader factors relating to QoL among older adults were explored. We examine three themes: Natural Environment considers how participants derive aspects of their sense of QoL from the unique natural environment in Chatham-Kent; Amalgamation’s Influence on Identity explores how participants’ sense of belongingness and place-based identity were shaped by the amalgamation of townships and communities that now constitute Chatham-Kent; and Ease of Travel and Independence examines how older adults’ conceptions of QoL are closely connected to their ease of travel, which they connect with a sense of independence. Our findings provide further support for the importance of engaging directly with older adults to understand their perspectives of QoL in a local context, particularly when seeking to inform policy changes.

KEYWORDS:

• Quality of life
• aging
• older adults
• qualitative methods
• policy

Acknowledgement

We are very grateful to Karen Loney for setting up and facilitating the focus groups that formed the basis of this study. We gratefully acknowledge valuable comments on an earlier version of this article by the Discourse, Science, Publics research group and the anonymous reviewers and editor. Most importantly, we want to thank our participants in this study who so generously shared their perspectives and experiences.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was not supported by funding.