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Older People’s Experiences of Living with, Responding to and Managing Sensory Loss
(1) Background: Ageing is associated with a decline in sensory function (sight, hearing, taste, touch and smell), which play an important role in the maintenance of an older person’s health, independence and well-being. (2) Methods: This qualitative study obtained data through face-to-face semi-stru...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2021
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7998691/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33803947 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9030329 |
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author | Ho, I Ching Chenoweth, Lynn Williams, Anna |
author_facet | Ho, I Ching Chenoweth, Lynn Williams, Anna |
author_sort | Ho, I Ching |
collection | PubMed |
description | (1) Background: Ageing is associated with a decline in sensory function (sight, hearing, taste, touch and smell), which play an important role in the maintenance of an older person’s health, independence and well-being. (2) Methods: This qualitative study obtained data through face-to-face semi-structured interviews with a convenience sample of thirteen community-dwelling adults 65 years and older. Themes were derived inductively, guided by semi-structured interviews. (3) Results: Twelve participants had two or more sensory impairments, mainly concurrent hearing and vision, which became apparent when a situation/individual alerted them to change/s occurring. They were less aware of impaired smell, taste and touch. Sensory changes impacted on important life functions, prompting many participants to take measured risks in maintaining their independence. Half (seven) of the participants lacked motivation to manage sensory function through goal-directed behaviour, taking remedial actions only when this was relevant to lifestyle preferences. (4) Conclusions: Internal and/or external triggers of sensory changes did not generally motivate remedial action. Health professionals can help to improve older people’s attention to sensory impairment by routinely discussing sensory function with them, screening for sensory changes and facilitating early intervention and support. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7998691 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-79986912021-03-28 Older People’s Experiences of Living with, Responding to and Managing Sensory Loss Ho, I Ching Chenoweth, Lynn Williams, Anna Healthcare (Basel) Article (1) Background: Ageing is associated with a decline in sensory function (sight, hearing, taste, touch and smell), which play an important role in the maintenance of an older person’s health, independence and well-being. (2) Methods: This qualitative study obtained data through face-to-face semi-structured interviews with a convenience sample of thirteen community-dwelling adults 65 years and older. Themes were derived inductively, guided by semi-structured interviews. (3) Results: Twelve participants had two or more sensory impairments, mainly concurrent hearing and vision, which became apparent when a situation/individual alerted them to change/s occurring. They were less aware of impaired smell, taste and touch. Sensory changes impacted on important life functions, prompting many participants to take measured risks in maintaining their independence. Half (seven) of the participants lacked motivation to manage sensory function through goal-directed behaviour, taking remedial actions only when this was relevant to lifestyle preferences. (4) Conclusions: Internal and/or external triggers of sensory changes did not generally motivate remedial action. Health professionals can help to improve older people’s attention to sensory impairment by routinely discussing sensory function with them, screening for sensory changes and facilitating early intervention and support. MDPI 2021-03-15 /pmc/articles/PMC7998691/ /pubmed/33803947 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9030329 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) ). |
spellingShingle | Article Ho, I Ching Chenoweth, Lynn Williams, Anna Older People’s Experiences of Living with, Responding to and Managing Sensory Loss |
title | Older People’s Experiences of Living with, Responding to and Managing Sensory Loss |
title_full | Older People’s Experiences of Living with, Responding to and Managing Sensory Loss |
title_fullStr | Older People’s Experiences of Living with, Responding to and Managing Sensory Loss |
title_full_unstemmed | Older People’s Experiences of Living with, Responding to and Managing Sensory Loss |
title_short | Older People’s Experiences of Living with, Responding to and Managing Sensory Loss |
title_sort | older people’s experiences of living with, responding to and managing sensory loss |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7998691/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33803947 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9030329 |
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