title: Experienced health in older women with rheumatoid arthritis.
abstract: This study explored how older women with chronic illness and disability experience their own health. Data were collected in in-depth interviews with ten older women with rheumatoid arthritis. Data analysis and interpretation was carried out within a phenomenological- hermeneutic frame of understanding, which revealed five major themes: health as coping with everyday life, health as freedom, health as absence of inconvenience, health as togetherness and health as mental well-being. For older people with chronic illness and disability, good health found expression in general well-being. It was perceived as a state of equilibrium that the respondents sought to maintain through their own active choices.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, Finnish Centre for Interdisciplinary Gerontology, University of Jyväskylä, Finland. tilyyra@sport.jyu.fi
authors.forename: Tiina-Mari
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Lyyra
authors.forename: Riitta-Liisa
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Heikkinen
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000368:Aged; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D012657:Self-Help Groups; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States; D016387:Women's Health