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Coping With Preclinical Disability: Older Women's Experiences of Everyday Activities
Author(s) -
Lorenz Rebecca Ann
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of nursing scholarship
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.009
H-Index - 80
eISSN - 1547-5069
pISSN - 1527-6546
DOI - 10.1111/j.1547-5069.2010.01339.x
Subject(s) - coping (psychology) , thematic analysis , qualitative research , psychology , participant observation , activities of daily living , clinical psychology , gerontology , applied psychology , developmental psychology , medicine , sociology , psychiatry , social science , anthropology
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe coping practices used by older women during preclinical disability. Design: This paper was derived from qualitative data gathered during a larger multimethod longitudinal study. Twelve women (60 to 80 years of age) participated in baseline functional performance measures and then repeated in‐depth interviews and participant observations over 18 months. Methods: A hermeneutic approach was used to interpret the in‐depth interviews, participant observations, and field notes using three interrelated processes of thematic, exemplar, and identification of paradigm cases to identify coping practices. Findings: Women coped with functional decline, such as difficulty getting up from the floor, in many different ways. Coping practices were grouped into five themes: resist, adapt, substitute, endure, and eliminate. Clinical Relevance: These findings suggest that nurses need to realize outward appearances may mask the level of effort required for older women to complete daily activities.