"I don't want to move": Older women deciding where to live
| dc.contributor.author | McNulty, Vicki | |
| dc.contributor.supervisor | Reitsma-Street, Marge | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2025-02-27T21:59:32Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2025-02-27T21:59:32Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2001 | |
| dc.degree.department | Faculty of Human and Social Development | |
| dc.description.abstract | This phenomenological study explored the process of deciding where to live for seven women over the age of 75. All the women were Caucasian, in failing health, lived alone and had minimal kin support. They all described themselves as being in the middle-class strata of society. The four themes identified and described are: Practical Realities of Deciding Where to Live, Supports and Connectedness to Others. Ways of Understanding their Situation, and Responses to their Situation. The concepts developed in the findings: caring work; reciprocity in relationships; and the managing of need and being managed by others, are taken up to contextualize the experiences reported by the senior women in failing health as they face making decisions about where they wish to, or can, live. The most significant finding came in the resistance all the women showed to moving. They clearly articulated a need to remain independent, autonomous and in control of their lives. Yet they understood that failing health, minimal kin support, a change in previously experienced reciprocal support and not knowing how long their resources would need to last, was threatening their ability to remain independent. The paper concludes with a discussion on these findings, their implications for policy and practice and recommendations for further research. | |
| dc.description.scholarlevel | Graduate | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/1828/21367 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | |
| dc.title | "I don't want to move": Older women deciding where to live | |
| dc.type | Thesis |