Emergent Themes with Implications from a Qualitative Thematic Analysis of Psychological Well-Being Among 23 Older Ghanaians

IF 1 Q4 GERONTOLOGY
Paul Alhassan Issahaku
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Available statistics show that the population of older adults in Ghana increased from 200,000 in 1960 to two million in 2021, with females comprising 57% of this population. This increase in the size of the older Ghanaian population has research, policy, and practice implications. Qualitative research has rarely explored the psychological health of older Ghanaians by paying attention to the emotions and feelings they experience and the reasons they give for those emotions and feelings. The current study aimed to fill the gap by exploring emotions and feelings that underlay the psychological well-being of older persons in Ghana and the subjective reasons behind their feelings. Twenty-three adults aged 60 years plus (14 male vs 9 female) provided interview data that were analyzed thematically, and psychological well-being perspectives provided a framework to make sense of the data. The findings show that participants’ psychological well-being belongs to three subthemes of psychological functioning: high positive functioning; low negative functioning; and high negative functioning. These subthemes translated into three main themes: pride of conquest; being older can be depressing; and, living with regret, respectively. Overall, the findings suggest that participants’ psychological well-being is a confluence of flourishing mental health and depression. It is concluded that older Ghanaians experience a mixture of positive and negative emotions and feelings, and, therefore, a blend of good mental health and depression. One reason for positive psychological well-being is that older adults are happy about living longer, and satisfied with what they have accomplished. They are also proud of their continued social contribution, and look forward to health and happiness in retirement. However, fear of death and worries over what the future holds for children, despair over the debilitating effects of sickness, abusive experience, poverty, and the shame of being accused of witchcraft and ostracized, among others are reasons for depression in this population. The research and practice implications of these findings are outlined.

对 23 位加纳老年人的心理健康进行定性专题分析得出的新主题及启示
现有统计数据显示,加纳老年人口从 1960 年的 20 万增加到 2021 年的 200 万,其中女性占 57%。加纳老年人口的增加对研究、政策和实践都有影响。定性研究很少通过关注加纳老年人的情绪和感受以及他们产生这些情绪和感受的原因来探索他们的心理健康。本研究旨在填补这一空白,探讨加纳老年人心理健康的情绪和感受及其背后的主观原因。23 名 60 岁以上的成年人(14 名男性和 9 名女性)提供了访谈数据,并对这些数据进行了专题分析,心理健康观点为理解这些数据提供了一个框架。研究结果表明,参与者的心理健康属于心理功能的三个次主题:高积极功能、低消极功能和高消极功能。这些次主题分别转化为三个主旋律:征服的自豪感;年老会让人沮丧;带着遗憾生活。总体而言,研究结果表明,参与者的心理健康是心理健康和抑郁的结合。结论是,加纳老年人的情绪和感受既有积极的,也有消极的,因此,心理健康和抑郁交织在一起。产生积极心理健康的一个原因是,老年人为自己活得更长而感到高兴,并对自己所取得的成就感到满意。他们还为自己持续的社会贡献感到自豪,并期待着退休后的健康和幸福。然而,对死亡的恐惧、对子女未来的担忧、对疾病造成的衰弱影响的绝望、受虐待的经历、贫穷、被指控使用巫术和被排斥的耻辱感等等,都是导致这一人群抑郁的原因。本文概述了这些发现对研究和实践的影响。
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来源期刊
Ageing International
Ageing International GERONTOLOGY-
CiteScore
2.70
自引率
6.70%
发文量
39
期刊介绍: As a quarterly peer-reviewed journal that has existed for over three decades, Ageing International serves all professionals who deal with complex ageing issues. The journal is dedicated to improving the life of ageing populations worldwide through providing an intellectual forum for communicating common concerns, exchanging analyses and discoveries in scientific research, crystallizing significant issues, and offering recommendations in ageing-related service delivery and policy making. Besides encouraging the submission of high-quality research and review papers, Ageing International seeks to bring together researchers, policy analysts, and service program administrators who are committed to reducing the ''implementation gap'' between good science and effective service, between evidence-based protocol and culturally suitable programs, and between unique innovative solutions and generalizable policies. For significant issues that are common across countries, Ageing International will organize special forums for scholars and investigators from different disciplines to present their regional perspectives as well as to provide more comprehensive analysis. The editors strongly believe that such discourse has the potential to foster a wide range of coordinated efforts that will lead to improvements in the quality of life of older persons worldwide. Abstracted and Indexed in: ABI/INFORM, Academic OneFile, Academic Search, CSA/Proquest, Current Abstracts, EBSCO, Ergonomics Abstracts, Expanded Academic, Gale, Google Scholar, Health Reference Center Academic, OCLC, PsychINFO, PsyARTICLES, SCOPUS, Social Science Abstracts, and Summon by Serial Solutions.
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