Preserving Dignity in Later Life

This article examines how elders who receive social care in the community experience loss of dignity and how they preserve their dignity. Qualitative research revealed that loss of dignity is a major concern for these elders and that they preserve their dignity differently, ranging from actively engaging with life to detaching themselves from life. We conclude that, in later life, preserving dignity while receiving social care differs from preserving dignity in the context of health care, especially health care provided in institutional settings. Furthermore, preserving dignity in later life, while receiving social care, is a complex process, depending not only on performing activities and individual action and responsibility, but also on other actions, some of them involving a certain inactivity/passivity, and interactions with others, especially caregivers. This article offers some insights to developing better policies and care practices for promoting dignity in the context of community-based social care.