Background: There is a burgeoning population of older adults globally and there is an increasing urgency in the policy literature to understand the health issues facing this population. A social exclusion lens provides an opportunity to understand health inequity and disadvantage among vulnerable populations. There is limited research examining how social exclusion plays out for older women, particularly in the rural context. This study examines the social exclusion experiences of Canadian, rural, older women and highlights policy implications for global health practitioners.
Methods: Guided by the principles of interpretive description, this qualitative study included eight participants who identified as women, 65 years or older, spoke English, and who lived alone in private households in rural communities of Durham Region, Ontario. Concurrent data collection and analysis was conducted using an inductive approach. One-to-one, semi-structured interviews were completed.
Findings: Six themes illuminate the exclusion experiences of rural, older women and they include: “Expectations of ageing in rural communities”; “Navigating the tensions of belonging within the social fabric”; “Singlehood isolation”; “Driving independence”; “Health infrastructure and changing personal health”; “Affording ageing”.
Implications & Contributions: The study adds a Canadian, rural perspective to the global conceptual literature on social exclusion. It illuminates the unique ways in which female gender and rural context influence social exclusion experiences. Implications for global health policy include: recognizing health as a key category of exclusion and the need to address health equity, adopt a gender-specific and life-course approach to address social exclusion, foster a sense of belonging and peer connection, utilize unconventional channels for engagement, implement social support schemes and health programming which considers non-traditional families or single status as norm for family composition, and support affordable access to health-promoting programs and services. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / This study examines how older (senior) women, living in rural communities in Durham Region, Ontario experience social exclusion, and aims to help inform global health policies for older adults. Social exclusion is a way of understanding how processes interact to impact on someone’s ability to participate fully in their life
Six themes were identified and add to the global evidence on social exclusion. This Canadian study shows the unique ways in which female gender and the rural context influence on social exclusion experiences. Global health policy implications include: health is a key category of exclusion and addressing health equity is important, adopt a gender-specific approach that considers what happens over a lifetime that contributes to women’s exclusion, foster a sense of belonging and peer connection, use unconventional channels of engagement, and implement social support schemes and health programming which considers non-traditional families or single status as norm for family composition.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:mcmaster.ca/oai:macsphere.mcmaster.ca:11375/24245 |
| Date | January 2019 |
| Creators | NESBITT, SHERRY |
| Contributors | GOMBAY, CHRISTY, Global Health |
| Source Sets | McMaster University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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