Navigating Cultures
Aging Birds of Passage: Retired Thai-Americans Pursuing Back and Forth Lifestyles
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Tassya Putho
The transition to retirement signifies a time of affirmed ideals for members of the host country as well as long-time migrants. These ideals are realised in different ways within the culturally embedded group of Thai-Americans, whose everyday lives are influenced by their sentiments for the homeland, homemaking efforts, family relations, spirituality, and negotiations of self-identities in later life. This paper explores these aspects in the lives of retired and highly skilled Thai-Americans and their family members, with whom in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted in 2017 in the United States and Thailand. Findings from fifty-two interviews show that most participants pursue back and forth lifestyles between Thailand and the United States, either to honour obligations to older relatives in Thailand or visit their homeland as tourists. As such they live as birds of passage, optimising different elements in the two environments. This study provides new contributions on the movements and identities of less-affluent non-Western retirees to complement studies on international retirement migration (IRM) and present a comparative study on those with different residential strategies. Ultimately, the study aspires to inform policymakers in both home and host countries about this particular response to aging among the often-overlooked migrant component of the aged.
Aging in Rural Places: A Photovoice Project Documenting Aging in First Nation Elders
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Anna F Tresidder
There is much we do not understand about the struggles rural elders face when it comes to remaining independent. Accounting for the elder point of view and context are essential in evaluating and improving services directed to keep elders independent and at home. Few studies have examined the elder perspective on what they see as obstacles and facilitators to aging in place. The driving research question is: How do Tribal Elders perceive barriers and facilitators to health in their community? Photovoice allows the opportunity to capture the elder point of view on health in their community by using photographs paired with narrative to frame the salient issues. Participants were provided cameras and prompts to facilitate their photography. Follow up interviews were conducted to gather qualitative data to match the photos taken keeping the narrative in the elder’s voice. This study is a qualitative, participatory research project examining the obstacles and facilitators to elders’ health while living in their homes. The elders told their stories that create three primary categories of narrative: safety (environmental events, changing home needs, and victimization), comfort (family nearby, pets, home updates to ease mobility), and support (home visits form providers, assistance with bills, activity facilitation). Photovoice is an effective tool to give voice to the elders to drive the narrative. The perspectives provided brought a nuanced understanding of the plight of many elders that live in under resourced environments.
Dying in America: A Narrative of Death Contemplation Among Vietnamese American Elders
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Brian Lam
For Vietnamese-American elders, their experience of with Vietnam War and the exodus to America impacts their aging process. Cultural identity and place identity play a major role in shaping their views of death contemplation. Existing work by the authors have been focusing on how elders establish a sense of identity via the association with “place” and their subjective perspectives of the aging process in their “second homeland” and their struggle to maintain the continuity in their life span. The effort to recreate a sense of place and minimize the disruption in their life has been found in this research. The purpose of this study is to gain a more in-depth understanding of how Vietnamese-Americans search for meaning as they approach to the end of life. This study explores their meaning making in the framework of place identity, ethnic identity, and continuity. The design is based on the narrative approach. Interviews were conducted with eight Vietnamese elders Results indicate that for many elders, Buddhist approaches to death as a form of continuity might contribute to their spiritual meaning making of death contemplation. Although mesmerizing about the return to their homeland, their desire to return home is quickly tempered by painful memories. In pursuit of continuity, these Vietnamese elders mended the rupture in their lives by recreating a sense of community and developing a sense of place with their ethnic enclave.
Happiness of Urban Elderly People : Life Satisfaction in Thailand
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Kesinee Saranrittichai
This qualitative research was part of a project titled “Life Happiness of Elderly People in the Northeast, Thailand” which aimed to explore happiness and factors associated to happiness of urban older person perspectives. A total of eighteen elderly people who were sixty years old and up participated in this study. Data were collected by in-depth interview with elderly people individually. Four focus group discussions were performed separately between male and female who had and didn't have illness. Data analysis were done simultaneously with data collection by performing content analysis. Result show that happiness from urban elderly people perspectives was life satisfaction. Life satisfaction was a dynamic concept of four components which related to each other: 1) satisfaction with health, 2) satisfaction with family, 3) satisfaction with the relationship with society, and 4) satisfaction with economic status. Factors associated with life satisfaction were: 1) work competency, 2) accessible to health care service, 3) family support, and 4) social support. It was suggested that promoting happiness of urban elderly people need to have all four aspects of life satisfaction. The more happiness with all four aspects they get, the more life satisfaction they will have. Elderly people who have illness can be satisfied with life if they get support from families or societies.
