title: The concept of health in older age: views of older people and health professionals.
abstract: This study aimed to explore how older people and health professionals conceptualize health in older age. Thirty-six older people and 41 health professionals participated in 10 focus groups (five with older people and five with health professionals) and discussed concepts of health, the modifiable aspects of health, and barriers and motivators to undertaking health-promoting behaviour change. Both older people and health professionals were found to conceptualize health in a holistic manner. While health professionals tended to place the source of poor health on failures of social connectedness and poor service delivery, older people stressed the importance of taking ownership of one's own health and actively seeking out health promoting activities and services.
authors.affiliation: Preventive and Public Health Division, National Ageing Research Institute, Poplar Road, Parkville, Melbourne, VIC 3052, Australia. m.giummarra@nari.unimelb.edu.au
authors.forename: Melita J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Giummarra
authors.forename: Betty
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Haralambous
authors.forename: Kirsten
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.forename: Joan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nankervis
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001315:Australia; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D015438:Health Behavior; D006694:Holistic Health; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012648:Self Care