Communicating the gray divide: An examination of the social construction and maintenance of health among women residents of an independent living retirement community.

摘要

This study examined how communication and community influence the social construction and maintenance of health among women residents of an independent living retirement community. A community case study approach using triangulation of three techniques---participant observation, in-depth interviews, and focus group interviews---was used to gather the data for this project. Twenty-three women who reside in the independent living community, and 13 staff members who work in the independent living section were recruited for the study. The researcher spent a period of seven months in the community during which time she conducted individual interviews with 15 residents and 10 staff members, and focus group interviews with two groups of residents and one group of staff. In addition to the interviews, the researcher also compiled written records of field observations.; Analysis of transcriptions revealed that communication and community influences are significant contributors in the social construction and maintenance of health among the women residents. It was established that health within this community is defined as independence. Further, distinct dimensions of independence were revealed: physical, mental, and social. Each content chapter of this dissertation explores one of these three dimensions. The dialectical tensions between the dimensions of independence and the parallel dimensions of dependence create what has been labeled as the gray divide. Each chapter reveals the communication strategies used by the residents to maintain a position on the independent side of this gray divide. A fourth content chapter also reveals how discourse and social interaction have become the vehicles for crossing the gray divide when residents are faced with this inevitable aging reality.; Although it is not without limitations, this research makes a contribution to the existing literature on aging and health, and challenges health communication researchers, health care providers, health care policy makers, as well as aging populations and their families to work together to create the conditions that will increase quality and years of healthy life for every individual.