Methodology
Our research focuses on the every day lives of a group of 40 older people aged 75 and over, who need support or help from their families or from health and care services to enable them to remain living in the community.We want to maintain contact with this group from March 2008 to June 2010. We will do this by in depth interviews in person and by telephone. Face-to-face interviews will be conducted annually, with telephone interviews at two-monthly interviews.
The questions and discussion will focus on three main areas:
- Participants’ everyday lives
- Participants’ experiences of help, support and care
- Participants’ thoughts about the future.
This information should enable us to identify how older persons’ perceptions of dignity change with changing circumstances and how the support and care that they receive influences these perceptions.
It is hoped that this innovative method, enabling real time study of experiences, decisions and changes, will offer fresh perspectives on the ‘lived through’ experiences of participants that will ultimately inform policy-making and service development.