Striving for Being in the Line of Life: Personal Active Ageing Strategies in Iranian Seniors

Authors

fatemeh raeesi dehkordi, Lorestan university of medical scienceFollow
Ahmad Ali Eslami, Isfahan university of medical scienceFollow
Fereshteh Zamani Alavijeh, Isfahan University of Medical SciencesFollow
Hossein Matlabi, Tabriz University of Medical SciencesFollow
Mehdi Nakhodaeezadeh, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation SciencesFollow

Abstract

Active ageing is a multidimensional, relative, and context-dependent concept with different paths and outcomes. This qualitative study aimed to explore personal active aging strategies in a specific context. Following a directed thematic analysis procedure, we conducted semi-structured individual interviews with 39 seniors (men and women) between the ages of 60-97 years selected with purposeful sampling, data collection and analysis were concurrent. We used directed content analysis to analyze the data from interviews, written narratives, and field notes. The reliability of data was fulfilled following Lincoln and Guba criteria. We stopped data collection when no new concepts were added, and data saturation occurred. Based on the experience of seniors, we identified four categories: (a) Reventive, (b) Coping, (c) Internal Self-Control, and (d) Opportunity Exploiting Strategies. These described the active aging strategies when encountering age-related change. Utilizing these strategies, the senior accompanied the lifetime. The finding suggests that active aging is a continuous process in confronting age-related change. The identified strategies can help promote active aging by familiarizing the elderly with opportunities of life and training them in how to use these strategies.

Keywords

strategy, active aging, elderly, thematic analysis

Author Bio(s)

Fatemeh Raeesi Dehkordi is a Ph.D. candidate of health education and promotion at Lorestan University of Medical Science, Lorestan, Iran.

Ahmad Ali Eslami (Corresponding Author) is Professor and Head of the Department of Health Education and Promotion, School of Health, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran. Please direct correspondence to Eslami@HLTH.mui.ac.ir or eslamiaa@gmail.com

Fereshteh Zamani Alavijeh is an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Education and Promotion, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.

Hossein Matlabi is an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Education & Promotion, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.

Mehdi Nakhodaeezadeh is a Ph.D. candidate of gerontology in the Department of Ageing, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

Acknowledgements

We thank all individuals who participated in this research.

Publication Date

6-11-2023

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2023.4870

Recommended APA Citation

raeesi dehkordi, f., Eslami, A., Zamani Alavijeh, F., Matlabi, H., & Nakhodaeezadeh, M. (2023). Striving for Being in the Line of Life: Personal Active Ageing Strategies in Iranian Seniors. The Qualitative Report, 28(6), 1694-1717. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2023.4870

ORCID ID

0000-0002-3450-9513