TY - JOUR
T1 - How older citizens engage in their health promotion: A qualitative research driven taxonomy of experiences and meanings
AU - Graffigna, Guendalina
AU - Menichetti Delor, Julia Paola
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - Objectives: In this qualitative study, we provide an in-depth exploration of older people’s
experiences and subjective meanings concerning their engagement in health promotion as well as
the emotional and pragmatic difficulties they face during their engagement.
Methods: The study was designed according to the Ethnoscience method, which implies a
participatory process that values patients’ linguistic expressions to deeply understand the
phenomena under the investigation and to give it a meaning. Using this method, thanks to repeated
rounds of interviews and q-sorting task, participants created a dictionary, with the assistance of
researcher, to describe the phenomenon of interest. They agreed on a shared taxonomy of meanings
and experiences related to the phenomenon. Twenty-five North Italian older citizens participated in
this study.
Results: Participants described a shared taxonomy of health engagement experiences by depicting
three main positions (i.e., “locked position”; “awakening position”; “climbing position”), which
represented different experiential domains grouped by participants into four main semantic areas
(e.g., physical care, soul care, daily lifestyle, contact with ageing). Each position is characterized by
specific emotions, personal representations of meaning and healthy behaviours that may sustain or
hinder older citizens’ engagement in health promotion.
Conclusions: The results of the present study suggest the importance of deeply understanding older
peoples’ experiences and their subjective meanings of health promotion. Particularly, the results
showed how their engagement in health promotion is framed in a complex system of psychological
meanings, which may sustain or hinder their ability to adopt healthy behaviours. A deeper
understanding of older citizens’ lived experiences, their doubts, and their difficulties in engaging in
health promotion may offer some important cues for orienting interventions in this area.
AB - Objectives: In this qualitative study, we provide an in-depth exploration of older people’s
experiences and subjective meanings concerning their engagement in health promotion as well as
the emotional and pragmatic difficulties they face during their engagement.
Methods: The study was designed according to the Ethnoscience method, which implies a
participatory process that values patients’ linguistic expressions to deeply understand the
phenomena under the investigation and to give it a meaning. Using this method, thanks to repeated
rounds of interviews and q-sorting task, participants created a dictionary, with the assistance of
researcher, to describe the phenomenon of interest. They agreed on a shared taxonomy of meanings
and experiences related to the phenomenon. Twenty-five North Italian older citizens participated in
this study.
Results: Participants described a shared taxonomy of health engagement experiences by depicting
three main positions (i.e., “locked position”; “awakening position”; “climbing position”), which
represented different experiential domains grouped by participants into four main semantic areas
(e.g., physical care, soul care, daily lifestyle, contact with ageing). Each position is characterized by
specific emotions, personal representations of meaning and healthy behaviours that may sustain or
hinder older citizens’ engagement in health promotion.
Conclusions: The results of the present study suggest the importance of deeply understanding older
peoples’ experiences and their subjective meanings of health promotion. Particularly, the results
showed how their engagement in health promotion is framed in a complex system of psychological
meanings, which may sustain or hinder their ability to adopt healthy behaviours. A deeper
understanding of older citizens’ lived experiences, their doubts, and their difficulties in engaging in
health promotion may offer some important cues for orienting interventions in this area.
KW - health engagement
KW - older people
KW - qualitative study
KW - health engagement
KW - older people
KW - qualitative study
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10807/76730
U2 - 10.1136/bmjopen-2015-010402
DO - 10.1136/bmjopen-2015-010402
M3 - Article
SP - 1
EP - 28
JO - BMJ Open
JF - BMJ Open
SN - 2044-6055
ER -