Social isolation has been linked with negative health effects in senior women. The
purpose of this study was to understand the lived experiences of socially-isolated senior
women. Local senior-serving organizations assisted with the recruitment of six socially-isolated senior women to participate in individual qualitative interviews. Three service
providers were also interviewed. Seniors’ interviews were analyzed using interpretive
phenomenological analysis and service provider interviews were analyzed using thematic
analysis. Three superordinate themes were derived from the senior interviews: social
needs, self-perceptions of isolation and loneliness, and constraints to and facilitators of
social engagement. Five superordinate themes were derived from the service provider
interviews: definitions of social isolation, differences between social isolation and
loneliness, gender differences in isolation and loneliness, identifying socially-isolated
seniors, and essential components of initiatives aimed at reducing social isolation. The
views of socially-isolated seniors are important to understand to develop programs and
policies that promote healthy aging.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:NSHD.ca#10222/35372 |
| Date | 24 June 2013 |
| Creators | Tatarkiewicz, Iwona |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
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