A bioecological exploration of two older women’s aging experiences who reside in Winnie Mandela, Tembisa.

Abstract

The numbers of people aged 60 years and older have been shown to be on the rise at a global scale, with Africa being at the forefront of this rise. In declaring 2020-2030 ‘The Decade of Healthy Ageing’, the World Health Organisation acknowledges that up until now aging has been neglected in terms of services, structures, research, policy development and implementation. As a result, there is very little knowledge on how older people experience their communities and what needs to be done to improve their aging experiences. This study aimed to address this gap in the research literature. The study used Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to explore two older people’s aging experiences within the Winnie Mandela community in Tembisa. The participants were recruited using both purposive and snowball sampling and semi-structured interviews was used as the method of data collection. The study design and analysis was informed by Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological framework. The findings show that an older person’s experiences are the outcome of an interplay between their biological bodies, social relationships with family, peers, and the larger community, and various structures within the community in which they are embedded. This intersection influences the experiences and emotional wellbeing of an older person. Key findings at the individual level showed that with increasing age, the older person experiences a decline in bodily functions, which is a reality that is difficult to accept. Despite this decline, older people showed the desire to still be active participants in their daily lives. The study also showed that older people develop emotional attachments to their places of residence, mainly because they provide them with familiarity of place and a sense of belonging. At the relational level, relationships with family, peers and the community were identified as essential for meeting the older person’s emotional (a sense of belonging) and daily functional needs. At the contextual level, neighborhood crime, the church, traditional practices, clinics, and social clubs all mediated the participants aging experiences.