[Aging and health-related needs, positions, strategies of older persons and first sex-differentiated considerations : Possible implications for education-related approaches].

Abstract

Background: Health in old age is becoming increasingly more important. Epidemiological data on the health of older people are regularly collected. The subjective view of older people, e.g., on health, understanding, strategies, health literacy and concerns, is just as relevant for the design of programs.

Objective: The subjective view of older people, their understanding of health and stressors, strategies and topics which are relevant to them were collated in order to derive conclusions for the practice.

Material and methods: The study was conducted with the participation of students in the 6th semester of a B.A. program in the field of Applied Health Science and included qualitative guided interviews with 86 women and 53 men aged 50 years and over, most of whom were socially well integrated and financially secure. The data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis.

Results: There was a great openness in thinking about the topic of health and old age. Health-related infrastructure, financial opportunities, stress and offers were named as important influencing factors. Sex-specific differences were recognized, which need to be investigated further.

Conclusion: Older people actively influence their health through actions and everyday practices and the sexes focus on different approaches. Further analyses are needed to substantiate and differentiate the differences and to rule out stereotypes. The use of health education programs is not a matter of course but the availability of such programs is decisive in determining whether they can be seen as a resource. From a qualitative and quantitative perspective there is a lack of target group-specific health education and insufficient attention is paid to sex-related aspects in health education.