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“What If I Die and No One Notices?” A Qualitative Study Exploring How Living Alone and in Poverty Impacts the Health and Well-Being of Older People in Hong Kong

Despite the growing number of older people who live alone and in poverty, the intersection of these two social risk factors and the impacts on older adults’ health and well-being have not been widely examined. This qualitative study explores the challenges and strengths of 47 older people who live a...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Kwan, Crystal, Tam, Ho Chung
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9739217/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36497930
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192315856
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author Kwan, Crystal
Tam, Ho Chung
author_facet Kwan, Crystal
Tam, Ho Chung
author_sort Kwan, Crystal
collection PubMed
description Despite the growing number of older people who live alone and in poverty, the intersection of these two social risk factors and the impacts on older adults’ health and well-being have not been widely examined. This qualitative study explores the challenges and strengths of 47 older people who live alone and in poverty in Hong Kong. Thematic analysis was used to identify eight themes related to challenges: (i) social isolation and loneliness, (ii) self-esteem and self-efficacy, (iii) declining mobility, health and activity levels, (iv) high medical expenses, (v) age discrimination and long wait times for medical health services, (vi) age discrimination, retirement, and wanting part-time employment, (vii) not enough gender-specific social participation activities, and (viii) housing insecurity. Four themes related to strengths were identified: (i) An “I have enough” mindset, (ii) strong formal social support, (iii) contributing to the community and others, and (v) “Most of us like to be alone.” Successfully addressing poverty in old age and tackling the challenges associated with living alone will require focusing on and activating not only external and systemic resources but also the intrinsic capacities and strengths of older adults themselves. Five discussion points are raised addressing the implications for future gerontological research and practice.
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spelling pubmed-97392172022-12-11 “What If I Die and No One Notices?” A Qualitative Study Exploring How Living Alone and in Poverty Impacts the Health and Well-Being of Older People in Hong Kong Kwan, Crystal Tam, Ho Chung Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Despite the growing number of older people who live alone and in poverty, the intersection of these two social risk factors and the impacts on older adults’ health and well-being have not been widely examined. This qualitative study explores the challenges and strengths of 47 older people who live alone and in poverty in Hong Kong. Thematic analysis was used to identify eight themes related to challenges: (i) social isolation and loneliness, (ii) self-esteem and self-efficacy, (iii) declining mobility, health and activity levels, (iv) high medical expenses, (v) age discrimination and long wait times for medical health services, (vi) age discrimination, retirement, and wanting part-time employment, (vii) not enough gender-specific social participation activities, and (viii) housing insecurity. Four themes related to strengths were identified: (i) An “I have enough” mindset, (ii) strong formal social support, (iii) contributing to the community and others, and (v) “Most of us like to be alone.” Successfully addressing poverty in old age and tackling the challenges associated with living alone will require focusing on and activating not only external and systemic resources but also the intrinsic capacities and strengths of older adults themselves. Five discussion points are raised addressing the implications for future gerontological research and practice. MDPI 2022-11-28 /pmc/articles/PMC9739217/ /pubmed/36497930 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192315856 Text en © 2022 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 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Kwan, Crystal
Tam, Ho Chung
“What If I Die and No One Notices?” A Qualitative Study Exploring How Living Alone and in Poverty Impacts the Health and Well-Being of Older People in Hong Kong
title “What If I Die and No One Notices?” A Qualitative Study Exploring How Living Alone and in Poverty Impacts the Health and Well-Being of Older People in Hong Kong
title_full “What If I Die and No One Notices?” A Qualitative Study Exploring How Living Alone and in Poverty Impacts the Health and Well-Being of Older People in Hong Kong
title_fullStr “What If I Die and No One Notices?” A Qualitative Study Exploring How Living Alone and in Poverty Impacts the Health and Well-Being of Older People in Hong Kong
title_full_unstemmed “What If I Die and No One Notices?” A Qualitative Study Exploring How Living Alone and in Poverty Impacts the Health and Well-Being of Older People in Hong Kong
title_short “What If I Die and No One Notices?” A Qualitative Study Exploring How Living Alone and in Poverty Impacts the Health and Well-Being of Older People in Hong Kong
title_sort “what if i die and no one notices?” a qualitative study exploring how living alone and in poverty impacts the health and well-being of older people in hong kong
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9739217/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36497930
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192315856
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