Occupational Well-Being among the Very Old

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.

Keywords:

• Quality of life
• Nonagenarians
• Aged 80 and over
• Human activities

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.