Measuring the value of older people's production: a diary study.
BACKGROUND
The productive capacity of retired people is usually not valued. However, some retirees produce much more than we might expect. This diary-based study identifies the activities of older people, and suggests some value mechanisms. One question raised is whether it is possible to scale up this diary study into a larger representative study.


METHODS
Diaries kept for one week were collected among 23 older people in the north of Sweden. The texts were analysed with a grounded theory approach; an interplay between ideas and empirical data.


RESULTS
Some productive activities of older people must be valued as the opportunity cost of time or according to the market value, and others must be valued with the replacement cost. In order to make the choice between these methods, it is important to consider the societal entitlement. When there is no societal entitlement, the first or second method must be used; and when it exists, the third must be used.


CONCLUSIONS
An explicit investigation of the content of the entitlement is needed to justify the choice of valuation method for each activity. In a questionnaire addressing older people's production, each question must be adjusted to the type of production. In order to fully understand this production, it is important to consider the degree of free choice to conduct an activity, as well as health-related quality of life.
Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Division of Epidemiology and Global Health, Umeå University, SE-901 85 Umeå, Sweden. klasse.sahlen@epiph.umu.se
Klas-Göran
KG
Sahlen
Curt
C
Löfgren
Håkan
H
Brodin
Lars
L
Dahlgren
Lars
L
Lindholm
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017028:Caregivers; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D004282:Documentation; D004526:Efficiency; D004651:Employment; D005260:Female; D006379:Helping Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010865:Pilot Projects; D019057:Quality-Adjusted Life Years; D012179:Retirement; D057566:Self Report; D013548:Sweden; D014838:Volunteers