Self-Direction in Productive Aging: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

Aims:

Replicating our prior study, this research explores personal perspectives of today’s current healthy productive agers actively engaged in their communities, and compares these to prior findings. Learning from their successful strategies for independent functioning can inform practitioners toward working collaboratively with clients.

Methods:

In this qualitative study, we interviewed six retired older adults. By applying constant comparative analysis, triangulation, and coding, we used inductive reasoning to identify and define several themes.

Results:

Authors identified three themes: hope for the future, planned performance, and purposeful social participation. From these emerged an overall theme of self-direction. Participants not only verbalized their beliefs in these principles, but also demonstrated them with their continuing active life roles.

Conclusion:

The results highlight the strong and self-directed sense of purpose in life enacted by these participants. They mastered self-management skills balanced with meaningful social roles in their communities. Findings have implications for expanded practitioner interventions.

Keywords:

• Hope for the future
• planned performance
• self-efficacy
• social participation
• self-management
• social identity

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank our peer reviewers, Dr. Anne Scott and Dr. Elizabeth Lannigan, for their scholarly expertise, helpful suggestions, and careful editing. Both are occupational therapists.

A special thank you to Cathy Johnson for her assistance with the technical aspects of writing and editing, as well as keeping us organized.

Finally, we thank Quinnipiac University’s Institutional Review Board for providing ethical guidelines and approving our research design (Protocol #02520).

Data repository

No data has been submitted to any online website or recognized data repository.

Disclosure statement

Both authors have published textbooks with Slack, Inc. from which they receive annual royalties. However, neither author has any financial or non-financial interest as a result of this research.

Ethical approval

The Institutional Review Board at Quinnipiac University approved our research design (protocol #02520) on February 12, 2020.

Additional information

Funding

The study was not funded, and neither author has any financial or non-financial interest as a result of this research. Both authors have published textbooks books with Slack, Inc. from which they receive annual royalties.