Paper
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Living with a Disability; Older People's Accounts of Their Reality
Adeline Cooney, RGN, BNS, RNT, MMedSc, (Nurs), Department of Nursing and Midwifery Studies, National University of Ireland, Galway, Galway, Ireland, Dympna Casey, PhD, RGN, BA, MA, Centre for Nursing & Midwifery Studies, National University of Ireland, Galway, Galway, Ireland, Kathy Murphy, PhD, RN, BA, RNT, Centre for Nursing Studies, St SAnthonys Campus, NUI, Galway, Galway, Ireland, and Eamon O'Shea, PhD, Irish Centre for Social Gerontology, National University of Ireland, Galway, Galway, Ireland.
| Learning Objective #1: evaluate the importance of living with a disability on older people's day-to-day lives, relationships and self-esteem. |
| Learning Objective #2: draw on study participants' experiences to
(1) self-evaluate their nurisng practice
(2) critically examine the challneges for service delivery |
The paper presents the findings of a research study carried out in Ireland in 2006 (Murphy et al., 2007). .A grounded theory approach guided study design. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 122 older people. Participants suffered from one of the following disabilities: depression (n = 20), stroke (n = 20), a sensory disability (n = 20), dementia (n = 18), arthritis (n = 20) or a learning disability (n = 24). All lived at home but the majority attended either a Day Centre (66%) or a voluntary group/association (25%). The constant comparative technique was used to analyse data. This paper aims to ‘paint a picture’ of the range of experiences of participants focusing particularly on the strategies older people used to live as normal a life as possible. Participants’ accounts suggest that living with a disability comprises of a balancing act involving a trade-off between taking risks and having to be sensible. Some participants showed enormous tenacity in continuing to live life on their terms. These participants viewed their disability as a challenge and concentrated on rising to the challenge. Others were stoical, resigning themselves to a radically altered life. Participants’ response to their disability was largely determined by the severity of their symptoms. Some participants had no option but to live a very restricted life as a result of their physical or mental disability. In this context, retaining autonomy and independence, no matter how small, was important. Several factors impacted on participants’ experiences of living with their disability. These include: the severity of their symptoms, whether the onset of the disability was gradual or traumatic, their personality and general attitude to life and whether they had good support from family or carers. Participants’ experiences raise several issues for service delivery and these will be explored in this paper.