Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-wq2xx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T02:55:16.669Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Perceived barriers and contributors to sense of purpose in life in retirement community residents

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 December 2020

Nathan A. Lewis Open the ORCID record for Nathan A. Lewis [Opens in a new window] ,
Naomi Reesor  and
Patrick L. Hill
Nathan A. Lewis*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada
Naomi Reesor
Affiliation:
Department of Applied Psychology and Human Development, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
Patrick L. Hill
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA Department of Psychology, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada
*
*Corresponding author. Email: nathanlewis@uvic.ca
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Despite the growing use of retirement communities and ageing care facilities, little is known about how residing in retirement residences may impact aspects of older adult wellbeing. Living in these communities may hold particular influence on residents’ sense of purpose, if they feel limited in their opportunities for individual action, or could serve to promote purposefulness depending on the social connections available. The current study sought to explore contributing factors as well as barriers to purpose in older adults living in three continuing care retirement communities. Using brief semi-structured interviews, 18 older adults were asked to describe their purpose in life, community-related activities and any perceived challenges limiting their ability to pursue this purpose. Thematic analysis was used to examine themes common across interviews. Interviews presented a mixed picture of the nature of purposefulness in retirement facilities. Residents espoused several benefits of community living such as social and leisure opportunities, while also noting several obstacles to their purpose, including health concerns and the belief that purpose in life was not relevant for older adults. These findings provide insight into how older adults can derive a sense of purpose from activities within their retirement community and how facilities can better tailor programmes to promote purposefulness and support personally valued roles for residents.

Keywords

purpose in lifepsychological wellbeingqualitative researchretirement communitiesthematic analysiselder care
Type
Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 42 , Issue 6 , June 2022 , pp. 1448 - 1464
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ayalon, L and Greed, O (2016) A typology of new residents' adjustment to continuing care retirement communities. The Gerontologist 56, 641–650.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baltes, PB and Baltes, MM (1990) Psychological perspectives on successful aging: the model of selective optimization with compensation. In Baltes, PM and Baltes, MM (eds), Successful Aging: Perspectives from the Behavioral Sciences. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bekhet, AK, Zauszniewski, JA and Nakhla, WE (2009) Reasons for relocation to retirement communities: a qualitative study. Western Journal of Nursing Research 31, 462–479.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bjornsdottir, G, Arnadottir, SA and Halldorsdottir, S (2012) Facilitators of and barriers to physical activity in retirement communities: Experiences of older women in urban areas. Physical Therapy 92, 551–562.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Böckerman, P, Johansson, E and Saarni, SI (2012) Institutionalisation and subjective wellbeing for old-age individuals: is life really miserable in care homes? Ageing & Society 32, 1176–1192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bondevik, M and Skogstad, A (2000) Loneliness, religiousness, and purpose in life in the oldest old. Journal of Religious Gerontology 11, 5–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boyle, PA, Barnes, LL, Buchman, AS and Bennett, DA (2009) Purpose in life is associated with mortality among community-dwelling older persons. Psychosomatic Medicine 71, 574–579.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Boyle, PA, Buchman, AS, Barnes, LL and Bennett, DA (2010) Effect of a purpose in life on risk of incident Alzheimer disease and mild cognitive impairment in community-dwelling older persons. Archives of General Psychiatry 67, 304–310.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Braun, V and Clarke, V (2006) Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology 3, 77–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Capezuti, E, Boltz, M, Renz, S, Hoffman, D and Norman, RG (2006) Nursing home involuntary relocation: clinical outcomes and perceptions of residents and families. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association 7, 486–492.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carstensen, LL (1992) Social and emotional patterns in adulthood: support for socioemotional selectivity theory. Psychology and Aging 7, 331–338.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carstensen, LL, Fung, HH and Charles, ST (2003) Socioemotional selectivity theory and the regulation of emotion in the second half of life. Motivation and Emotion 27, 103–123.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chandler, RC and Robinson, OC (2014) Wellbeing in retirement villages: eudaimonic challenges and opportunities. Journal of Aging Studies 31, 10–19.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cohen-Mansfield, J, Hazan, H, Lerman, Y and Shalom, V (2016) Correlates and predictors of loneliness in older-adults: a review of quantitative results informed by qualitative insights. International Psychogeriatrics 28, 557–576.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cornwell, EY and Waite, LJ (2009) Social disconnectedness, perceived isolation, and health among older adults. Journal of Health and Social Behavior 50, 31–48.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Damon, W, Menon, J and Cotton Bronk, K (2003) The development of purpose during adolescence. Applied Developmental Science 7, 119–128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grant, BC (2007) Retirement villages: more than enclaves for the aged. Activities, Adaptation & Aging 31, 37–55.Google Scholar
Greenfield, EA and Marks, NF (2004) Formal volunteering as a protective factor for older adults’ psychological well-being. Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences 59B, S258–S264.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hedberg, P, Gustafson, Y, Alèx, L and Brulin, C (2010) Depression in relation to purpose in life among a very old population: a five-year follow-up study. Aging & Mental Health 14, 757–763.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hedberg, P, Gustafson, Y and Brulin, C (2010) Purpose in life among men and women aged 85 years and older. International Journal of Aging & Human Development 70, 213–229.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hill, PL and Turiano, NA (2014) Purpose in life as a predictor of mortality across adulthood. Psychological Science 25, 1482–1486.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hill, PL and Weston, SJ (2019) Evaluating eight-year trajectories for sense of purpose in the Health and Retirement Study. Aging & Mental Health 23, 233–237.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hill, PL, Burrow, AL and Sumner, R (2016) Sense of purpose and parent–child relationships in emerging adulthood. Emerging Adulthood 4, 436–439.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, ES, Sun, JK, Park, N and Peterson, C (2013) Purpose in life and reduced incidence of stroke in older adults: ‘The Health and Retirement Study’. Journal of Psychosomatic Research 74, 427–432.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ko, HJ, Hooker, K, Manoogian, MM and McAdams, DP (2019) Transitions to older adulthood: exploring midlife women's narratives regarding purpose in life. Journal of Positive Psychology and Wellbeing 3, 137–152.Google Scholar
Kosine, NR, Steger, MF and Duncan, S (2008) Purpose-centered career development: a strengths-based approach to finding meaning and purpose in careers. Professional School Counseling 12, 133–136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kurlowicz, L and Greenberg, SA (2007) The Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS). American Journal of Nursing 107, 67–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawton, MP and Brody, EM (1969) Assessment of older people: self-maintaining and instrumental activities of daily living. The gerontologist 9, 179–186.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McKnight, PE and Kashdan, TB (2009) Purpose in life as a system that creates and sustains health and well-being: an integrative, testable theory. Review of General Psychology 13, 242–251.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mitchell, V and Helson, RM (2016) The place of purpose in life in women's positive aging. Women & Therapy 39, 213–234.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ortman, JM, Velkoff, VA and Hogan, H (2014) An Aging Nation: The Older Population in the United States (Report No. P25-1140). Washington, DC: United States Census Bureau, Economics and Statistics Administration, United States Department of Commerce.Google Scholar
Pinquart, M (2002) Creating and maintaining purpose in life in old age: a meta-analysis. Ageing International 27, 90–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rowe, JW and Kahn, RL (2015) Successful aging 2.0: conceptual expansions for the 21st century. Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences 70B, 593–596.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ryff, CD (1989) Happiness is everything, or is it? Explorations on the meaning of psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 57, 1069–1081.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ryff, CD and Keyes, CLM (1995) The structure of psychological well-being revisited. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 69, 719–727.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ryff, CD, Singer, BH and Love, GD (2004) Positive health: connecting well-being with biology. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences 359, 1383–1394CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Scheier, MF, Wrosch, C, Baum, A, Cohen, S, Martire, LM, Matthews, KA, Schultz, R and Zdaniuk, B (2006) The life engagement test: assessing purpose in life. Journal of Behavioral Medicine 29, 291–298.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Statistics Canada (2011) Projected Population, by Projection Scenario, Sex and Age Group as of July 1, Canada, Provinces and Territories, Annual (CANSIM table 052-0005). Ottawa: Statistics Canada.Google Scholar
Statistics Canada, (2012) Living Arrangements of Seniors: Families, Households and Marital Status, Structural Type of Dwelling and Collectives. 2011 Census of Population. Ottawa: Statistics Canada.Google Scholar
Weston, SJ, Lewis, NA and Hill, PL (2020) Building sense of purpose in older adulthood: examining the role of supportive relationships. Journal of Positive Psychology. Available online https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2020.1725607.Google Scholar
Yesavage, JA, Brink, TL, Rose, TL, Lum, O, Huang, V, Adey, MB and Leirer, VO (1983) Development and validation of a geriatric depression screening scale: a preliminary report. Journal of Psychiatric Research 17, 37–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar