Autonomy : the lived experience of older persons residing in church-run residential care settings

Abstract

The concept of Autonomy is a well-known and discussed topic in various specialities particularly in bio-medical ethics. Even though various international research studies on the topic have been carried out little is known about the local scenario with a special relation to older people (OPs). The aim of this research was to investigate the lived experience of OPs living in Church-Run Residential Care Settings (CRRCS) in relation to Autonomy. The other objectives of the study were to see how OPs perceive autonomy, to explore whether OPs feel that their autonomy is being met or maintained in CRRCS and to identify what are the factors that contribute to the lack of autonomy as experienced by the OPs in CRRCS. This study used a qualitative approach where Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to analyse the data. The data was collected from nine semi-structured interviews which were carried out in two CRRCS. Four main themes were developed from the analysis of data “Enhanced Experience of Autonomy”, “Experiences that contribute to Lack of autonomy”, “Readiness to move to a residential care setting” and “The perception of system barriers in relation to autonomy”. The participants discussed their autonomy as a concept, the change in self-concept through past and present achievements and their motivation to retain autonomy. In addition the participants also explored how loss was a continuous process, the witnessing of abuse, the experience of fear and the subsequent process of learned helplessness. The themes outlined, helped in forming a clearer picture of the lived experience of the participants in relation to autonomy. Further education to both the OPs and the staff is a necessity as well as increasing the workforce is considered as an asset to safeguard and respect the Autonomy of OPs living in CRRCS.