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Starting with Lives

Supporting Older People's Strategies and Ways of Coping

University of Warwick, England, d.tanner{at}warwick.ac.uk

• Summary: A recent summary of research findings concluded that social policy and practice should use older people's lives as the starting point to plan and evaluate services (Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2004). Based on the findings of a small-scale qualitative study and related research, this article explores the strategies and ways of coping used by older people to manage changes and difficulties that accompany ageing.

• Findings: It is suggested that older people's strategies and ways of coping can be understood as efforts to sustain a sense of self in later life and a model of some key processes involved is presented. The empirical findings of the study are related to theoretical models of ageing and identity management. Attention is directed to the interaction between structural resources and constraints, dominant cultural norms and values, and older people's individual capacities for reflexivity and interpretation.

• Applications : It is argued that this understanding has significant implications for the planning and delivery of social work and social care services that aim to promote the well-being of older people. In particular, practitioners need to understand the meaning and significance that difficulties and different approaches to managing them have for individuals. Interventions should be sensitive to, and seek to support, older people's cognitive ways of coping, as well as their practical strategies.

Key Words: coping • older • people • self • strategies social work • support

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