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Abstract
Background: Limited knowledge is available on how very old people orchestrate and carry out their occupational life to achieve a sense of occupational well-being. Study objectives: To highlight very old persons’ ways of describing and discussing their occupational engagement in relation to a sense of occupational well-being. Methods: Qualitative interviews were conducted with 48 men and women between 90 and 98 years of age in their urban homes. Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis. Results: The results show that occupational engagement in relation to the surrounding world and occupational engagement unconstrained by space and time were important in achieving occupational well-being. The surrounding world involves having contact with family, friends, and society as well as living up to a shared norm of being independent. Unconstrained by space and time includes thinking, planning and creating a narrative of life based on the past, present and future. Limitations: The present study contributes to the body of knowledge focusing on occupational engagement and how it is linked to health through occupational well-being among older people, however; it is not known to what degree the respondents were experiencing healthy ageing. Recommendations: Future studies should further develop the understanding of doing in relation to being among older people.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the older people who agreed to participate in our tape-recorded interviews and long home visits; we are also grateful to the research group of the Umeå 85+ study for their support during data collection. Also, the qualitative research group within the Ageing and Living Conditions programme have given valuable comments and support – thank you. Financial support for this study was provided by Äldrecentrum Västerbotten and Swedish Research Council's Linnaeus Grant, no 2006-21576-36119-66.
