Doing everyday occupations both conceals and reveals the phenomenon of being aged

The phenomenon of ageing is so commonplace that it is ordinarily taken-for-granted, with little call to question its meaning. Of importance to occupational therapists is the recent appeal to understand older adults' ordinary ways of everyday living. The aim of this interpretive phenomenological study was to understand the meaning of 'being aged' through the everyday experiences of those who are long-lived.

The writings of two philosophers, Hans-Georg Gadamer and Martin Heidegger, guided the study's design and research methods. Being aged in the context of everyday living was the phenomenon of interest. Individual interviews were conducted with 15 community-dwelling New Zealand elders: four Maori aged 71-93 years and 11 non-Maori aged 80-97 years. Stories of going about daily occupations and particular moments in the day were elicited during conversational-style interviews. Hermeneutic methods and phenomenological reflection were used to analyse the data.

Two overarching notions were illuminated. The ordinary ways of 'being in the every day', such as having a routine and a familiar purposefulness, conceal being aged. In contrast, 'experiencing the unaccustomed', such as suddenly noticing an unaccustomed weakness or oldness, in the midst of doing deeply familiar occupations is an announcing of being aged. CONCLUSIONS and

As such, engaging in everyday, familiar occupations holds the potential to both conceal and reveal the phenomenon of being aged. These results point to the importance of illuminating the lived experience of occupational engagement as a fruitful way of informing occupation-focussed practice.