title: Using narratives to understand older people's decision-making processes.
abstract: Despite the availability of health and social care services designed to support people in their own homes, older people often underuse or refuse these services. It is now acknowledged that this phenomenon contributes to older people being admitted to hospital and long-term care in circumstances that could be avoided. To understand how the uptake of supportive and preventative services can be improved, the first author, supervised by the second and third authors, developed a constructivist inquiry to explore what factors enhance or bar service use. This article describes how narratives were used not only to help identify decision- and choice-making influences, but also as a way of enhancing the hermeneutic processes associated with constructivism.
authors.affiliation: Open University, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Josephine
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tetley
authors.forename: Gordon
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Grant
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Davies
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D002755:Choice Behavior; D003142:Communication; D005260:Female; D006296:Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006699:Home Care Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D033262:Narration; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012947:Social Work; D006113:United Kingdom