The Meaning of Work and Self-Management Experiences among Elderly Workers with Multiple Chronic Diseases: A Qualitative Study

With population aging, increasingly many elderly individuals are expected to participate in economic activities. Elderly workers have a higher prevalence of multiple chronic diseases, making it necessary to examine elderly workers’ experiences of health-related self-management in work environments. This qualitative study investigated the meaning of work and health-related self-management experiences among elderly workers with multiple chronic diseases. The study participants were elderly workers residing in South Korea (65 years old or older) with at least two chronic diseases. Twelve participated in individual interviews, which were audio-recorded and transcribed. Qualitative content analysis was conducted with the transcribed data. Six themes, 21 sub-themes, and 40 codes were derived. The themes were “benefit of work on health and life”, “adaptation to a new work environment”, “endurance”, “continuous efforts to maintain health”, “difficulties in self-management”, and “requirements for health promotion”. The participants experienced difficulties in health-related self-management due to time constraints, poor work environment, and financial burdens. However, participants expressed their desire to invest effort into managing their physical and psychological health and to work as long as possible. Programs that consider the aging and health-related characteristics of elderly workers and their work environments should be developed and implemented.