Ageing in drought – A longitudinal thematic analysis of older women's experiences of drought in Australia

Drought has always been a part of the Australian landscape, yet there is little research into understanding the psychological consequences of drought, gendered experiences of it and its long term effects. This project aimed to... [ view full abstract ]

Drought has always been a part of the Australian landscape, yet there is little research into understanding the psychological consequences of drought, gendered experiences of it and its long term effects. This project aimed to address these gaps; in particular by understanding the diverse ways that drought is perceived and responded to by older Australian women. This research investigates the mental and emotional well-being of older women (75 at baseline) living with drought over a 13 year time period. Longitudinal qualitative free-text comments written by the oldest cohort of women (born between 1921-26) in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health were subject to a thematic analysis. The comments were collected at five different time points 1996, 2000, 2003, 2006 and 2009, from 12 different women. Women were chosen to participate if they had ever written about an experience of drought in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health.

Findings indicate that experiences of drought have a relationship to women’s ability to age in ways they may have once imagined. For instance, some older women wrote about beginning casual work after retirement. Results show that the resilience, pragmatism and strength of these older women were a protective barrier to negative effects of drought. The caring responsibilities of older women were also prominent, women wrote about caring in diverse ways such as caring for loved ones, caring for deceased estates, and the need to take care of themselves, including access to respite care. Each of these themes of ageing, caring and drought are connected and interdependent – they also develop and intensify over the 1996 – 2009 time frames. This study highlights the complex interactions of living in drought for older Australian women.