Perceptions of Old Age Among a Sample of Aging Mentally Retarded Persons

Erickson, Marji; Krauss, Marty Wyngaarden; Seltzer, Marsha Mailick

doi:10.1177/073346488900800211

Cited by 9 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 9 publications

(7 reference statements)

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“…Erickson, Krauss & Seltzer's (1989) study of perceptions of old age among older people with learning disabilities found responses relating to anticipated physical health changes, and general acknowledgement of one's own ageing, both of which were replicated in this study. Another similarity between the findings of this study and Erickson et al (1989) was that participants anticipated changes in their social life with some being pleased at the idea of taking it easy, while others worried about the loss of social activities. Many of Erickson et al's (1989) participants associated getting older with stopping work, whereas for participants in this study retirement was seen as optional rather than automatic with old age.…”

Section: Making Sense Of Getting Oldersupporting

confidence: 65%

“…Many of Erickson et al's (1989) participants associated getting older with stopping work, whereas for participants in this study retirement was seen as optional rather than automatic with old age. This study did not show the same degree of denial of ageing that was found by Erickson et al (1989), possibly because the mean age of participants was higher, at 69.43 compared to 62.38 in Erickson et al (1989). One participant talked about ageing as something that has not happened to her yet, but she was only sixty so it was understandable that she did not consider herself old yet.…”

Section: Making Sense Of Getting Oldermentioning

confidence: 56%

“…I hope to address this by looking at the experiences of people aged over 60. Other studies have explored how people with learning disabilities conceptualise old age (Erickson, Krauss & Seltzer 1989;Lifshitz, 2002), but have not linked this to a detailed exploration of their own ageing process. Jenkins (2010) attempted to take a phenomenological approach to exploring older people with learning disabilities' views of ageing but the study did not successfully capture how participants viewed and experienced ageing.…”

Section: How Does This Study Aim To Add To the Literature?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Erickson, Krauss and Seltzer (1989) interviewed 47 people with learning disabilities with an average age of 62 to find out about their perceptions of old age. They carried out a content analysis of responses and identified six categories of perceptions of old age.…”

Section: Conceptualisation Of Old Age Among People With Learning Disamentioning

confidence: 99%

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How do people with learning disabilities experience and make sense of the ageing process?

Newberry

Martin

Robbins

2015

Brit J Learn Disabil

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Accessible summary We wanted to find out what getting older feels like for people with learning disabilities. We asked seven people with learning disabilities about getting older. Most of the people had noticed changes as they got older. Some felt sad or angry about it. Some worried about getting older. People said that it was important to have good friends and to do useful jobs. Some people did not know much about getting older. Some people wanted to look back over their lives to feel more settled. They might need help with this. Abstract Background: Not enough is currently known about how people with learning disabilities experience and understand the ageing process. This is particularly important as the population of older people with learning disabilities is growing due to increased life expectancy. This article draws on the first author's doctoral research study, which aimed to fill this gap in the literature by exploring how people with learning disabilities experience and make sense of the ageing process and old age. Materials and Methods: Seven people with learning disabilities aged 60 or more were interviewed, and their accounts were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. This approach allows the participant's lived experience to be explored in detail. Participants' accounts were analysed individually, followed by a group analysis. This article presents the results of the group analysis, illustrated by quotes from individuals. Results: The master themes arising from the group analysis were as follows: quality of relationships is central to enjoyment of life, including subthemes on the importance of affection and companionship, distress at lack of closeness and anxiety about ability to satisfy others; powerlessness; needing a sense of purpose; and making sense of getting older, including subthemes on reactions to changes with age, life review and looking to the future. Conclusions: Clinical implications of the findings include the need for services to support older people with learning disabilities in maintaining friendships and meaningful activities. This study demonstrates that some older people with learning disabilities can engage in a process of life review and raises the possibility that learning disability services could play a useful role in facilitating this process. Understanding of the ageing process varied between participants and tended towards a negative, stereotypical view of ageing. The findings suggest that people with learning disabilities could benefit from psychoeducation on the ageing process to aid them in making sense of the changes they experience as they get older.

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Section: Making Sense Of Getting Oldersupporting

confidence: 65%

Section: Making Sense Of Getting Oldermentioning

confidence: 56%

Section: How Does This Study Aim To Add To the Literature?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Conceptualisation Of Old Age Among People With Learning Disamentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

How do people with learning disabilities experience and make sense of the ageing process?

Newberry

Martin

Robbins

2015

Brit J Learn Disabil

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…I flera studier tar intervjupersonernas beskrivningar av åldrandet i hög grad sin utgångspunkt i försämrad fysisk hälsa, minskade färdigheter och förmågor samt stereotypa föreställningar (Erickson, Krauss & Seltzer, 1989;Lifshitz, 2002a;Wilkinson, Kerr & Rae, 2003). Lifshitz (2002a) har dock visat att ju äldre personen själv blir ju större blir medvetenheten om åldrandets positiva karakteristika.…”

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