title: Aging happens: experiences of Swiss women living alone.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to give beginning insights into how aging is experienced by women living alone in Switzerland. A feminist methodology was used to gather and interpret 17 interviews conducted with a selected group of 9 older women living alone. Interviews were taped and transcribed for hermeneutic analysis; major themes were developed. Aging happens, Independence, Being vulnerable, Memory and aging, and If I had been a boy were the themes discovered. These experiences represent how aging is shaped by individual life courses, sociocultural conditions along with gender and class.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nursing Science, University of Basel, Switzerland. hptry@dslnorthwest.net
authors.forename: Heidi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Petry
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D013557:Switzerland; D014930:Women / Q000523:psychology*