Clinicians, researchers, and the elderly population alike believe that the maintenance and promotion of functional health is as important as the diagnosis and treatment of disease. However, emphasis on maintaining or promoting functional health is not a major part of most providers' practices. Functional health includes the physical, psychosocial, and independent dimensions of day-to-day activities. The health literature clearly supports that comorbidities, often associated with advancing age, contribute to dysfunction. Physical inactivity is also cited as a predictor of dysfunction. However, it is not so clear what other life influences and perspectives contribute to poor functional health. Although local and state databases on low income older women are limited, in general: the majority of older persons are women; most older women live alone in the community; older women report greater functional impairments than men; and, older, Hispanic women experience dysfunction at earlier ages. Therefore, guided by a health and behavior theoretical orientation, the specific aims of this study are to: l) investigate and compare sociocultural influences on functional health in two groups of older women; 2) describe the value, meaning, and management of functional health from both Anglo and Hispanic women's perspectives; and, 3) examine how these influences and perspectives are similar and different within and between two groups of low income Anglo and Hispanic older women. The research design is a triangulation method which will utilize both quantitative and qualitative data and include correlational and regression statistics as well as the grounded theory comparative analysis approach. Targeted sampling techniques will be used to obtain a random sample of 75 women per Anglo and Hispanic group (two groups) for the quantitative portion and a subset of 20 women per group (two groups) for the qualitative portion. While it is known that there are large discrepancies in functional health among subgroups of older adults, the specific phenomena are not well defined. It is expected that study results will document not only similarities and differences in functional health but also unique cultural aspects in the value and meaning of functional health as it relates to the family and community life experiences of older, low income women. Findings will assist nurses and other health care providers in developing culturally sensitive interventions for the maintenance and promotion of functional health in these growing populations.
| McCarthy, Marianne; Ruiz, Ester; Gale, Betty et al. (2004) The meaning of health: perspectives of Anglo and Latino older women. Health Care Women Int 25:950-69 |
