Aging, Chronic Illness and Self-Concept, a Study of Older Women with Osteoporosis

grantor: University of TorontoThe increasing likelihood of chronic illness with aging requires that attention be given to the social aspects of aging and chronic illness. A focus on women's aging and health is essential because in later years women outnumber men, women have higher rates of nonfatal chronic illnesses and live longer with these conditions than men, and women have more chronic health problems than men. The overall purpose of this dissertation is to consider the relationships between the meanings of aging and chronic illness and the self-concept of women using an interpretive sociological approach. The self is regarded as a basic concept for the understanding of the dynamic relationship between the individual and society. How individuals negotiate experiences and events in their lives depends on the content, organization and functioning of their self-concepts. The self-concept integrates individuals' experiences across time providing continuity and meaning to these experiences. While the meanings of either aging or chronic illness may be related to one's self-concept, the coming together or coalescence of these two events may alter the relationships among the conceptions of aging. and chronic illness and the sense of self. Using Rosenberg's conceptualization of self-concept (1979), an in-depth interview and a self-administered questionnaire were designed and data collected from twenty-eight women with osteoporosis. Three types of self-concepts emerged from the data: the competent self, the contradictory self and the ineffectual self. When the meanings of aging and chronic illness were examined, five themes emerged in each area. Through analysis of the self-concept processes of self-esteem and self-consistency, a reciprocal relationship was found between self-concept and the meanings of aging and chronic illness. A comprehensive description of the three types of self-concept is presented highlighting this reciprocal relationship and including discussion of the strategies used to enhance, protect and maintain self-concept despite the changes brought on by aging and chronic illness.Ph.D