Coping with preclinical disability: older women's experiences of everyday activities

The purpose of this paper is to describe coping practices used by older women during preclinical disability.

This paper was derived from qualitative data gathered during a larger multimethod longitudinal study. Twelve women (60 to 80 years of age) participated in baseline functional performance measures and then repeated in-depth interviews and participant observations over 18 months.

A hermeneutic approach was used to interpret the in-depth interviews, participant observations, and field notes using three interrelated processes of thematic, exemplar, and identification of paradigm cases to identify coping practices.

Women coped with functional decline, such as difficulty getting up from the floor, in many different ways. Coping practices were grouped into five themes: resist, adapt, substitute, endure, and eliminate.

These findings suggest that nurses need to realize outward appearances may mask the level of effort required for older women to complete daily activities.