Health risks in older community-dwelling adults, living alone. What is the meanings of risks in the course of everyday activities ?

Background: Taking older people’s perception of risk into account is of great importance to the effectiveness of prevention programs. While several studies exist on how they perceive overall or specific risks, knowledge on... [ view full abstract ]

Background:
Taking older people’s perception of risk into account is of great importance to the effectiveness of prevention programs. While several studies exist on how they perceive overall or specific risks, knowledge on how they see risks in their everyday life is still limited. The aim of this study was to better understand how risks are experienced in the course of everyday activities.
Method:
Individual interviews were conducted with 20 people over 80, living alone at home, in the French speaking part of Switzerland. Each participant choose one specific activity to describe. Interviews were conducted and analysed according to the method of “explicitation” interview.
Results:
Activities chosen by participants were as mundane as doing laundry, making bed, getting up in the morning or getting the mail. Concrete risks, such as falling, are lived by participants as a component of the ordinary experience of growing old. They are not seen as major threats, at least in the moment of action. In the eyes of the participants, the main risks they face are related to their identity, self-determination and self-esteem. They engage in occupation – and take smaller concrete risks – in order to prevent greater abstract risks.
Conclusion:
Vulnerability in old age lead to a major change in risk perception. Existential abstract risks become more important than concrete risks.
Application to Practice:
In order to be more successful, prevention and health promotion actions should take the specific meaning of health risks in the everyday life of older adults into account.