title: The meaning of "independence" for older people in different residential settings.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Drawing on older people's understandings of "independence" and Collopy's work on autonomy, the article elaborates an interpretive framework of the concept in relation to 3 residential settings-the private dwelling-home, the extra-care, and the residential-care settings.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data include 91 qualitative interviews with frail, older people living in each setting, collected as part of a larger Welsh study. Thematic analysis techniques were employed to identify patterns in meanings of independence across settings and then interpreted using Collopy's conceptualizations of autonomy, as well as notions of space and interdependencies.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Independence has multiple meanings for older people, but certain meanings are common to all settings: Accepting help at hand; doing things alone; having family, friends, and money as resources; and preserving physical and mental capacities. Concepts of delegated, executional, authentic, decisional, and consumer autonomy, as well as social interdependencies and spatial and social independence, do provide appropriate higher order interpretive constructs of these meanings across settings.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A broader interpretive framework of "independence" should encompass concepts of relative independence, autonomy(ies), as well as spatial and social independence, and can provide more nuanced interpretations of structured dependency and institutionalization theories when applied to different residential settings.
authors.affiliation: Correspondence should be addressed to Sarah Hillcoat-Nallétamby, Centre for Innovative Ageing, College of Human and Health Sciences, Swansea University, Room 308, Vivian Tower, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP, Wales, United Kingdom. E-mail: S.Hillcoat-Nalletamby@swansea.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hillcoat-Nallétamby
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology*; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D040561:Assisted Living Facilities / Q000592:standards; D005260:Female; D016330:Frail Elderly; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D026684:Personal Autonomy; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012112:Residential Facilities / Q000592:standards*; D014852:Wales
keywords: Autonomy; Extra care; Home; Independence; Older people; Private dwelling; Residential care.