“Something to look forward to” - Experiences of Older Adults Taking Part in a Peer Support Group
type: CreativeWork
description: The political response to Wales’ ageing population has been to strive to make Wales the best place in the world to grow older (Older People’s Commissioner for Wales, 2019). Third sector interventions to improve the wellbeing of older adults have been recognised by the Welsh Government as “pivotal” (Welsh Assembly Government, 2008). Many studies have been carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of such interventions, but there is little in-depth understanding of people’s experiences of participation. The aim of this study was to describe the experience of taking part in a peer support group for older adults from the perspective of its participants. Using descriptive phenomenology, the study avoided evaluation and instead gave voice to the older adults who participated in a peer support group taking place in a retirement housing scheme in South Wales. The study had a longitudinal design with three interview phases over a 15-month period. The first phase of interviews took place whilst the group was led by professional facilitators. The second phase took place six months later when the group was led by a volunteer peer leader. The final interviews were conducted six months thereafter during the first lockdown period of the COVID-19 pandemic. Six members of the group volunteered to participate in this study of whom three became peer leaders. Sixteen one-to-one interviews of between 45 and 60 minutes were conducted over 15 months. The data gathered was analysed to identify themes using Giorgi’s method for descriptive phenomenological analysis (Giorgi, 1997). The overarching theme identified was of experiences of wellbeing. The findings suggest that wellbeing includes feelings of positive emotion such as enjoyment, amusement, feelings of being in control, being valued and pride. Wellbeing included feelings of belonging and encompassed the development of relationships with other group members and external facilitators. Participants described attending the group as provid…
abstract: The political response to Wales’ ageing population has been to strive to make Wales the best place in the world to grow older (Older People’s Commissioner for Wales, 2019). Third sector interventions to improve the wellbeing of older adults have been recognised by the Welsh Government as “pivotal” (Welsh Assembly Government, 2008). Many studies have been carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of such interventions, but there is little in-depth understanding of people’s experiences of participation. The aim of this study was to describe the experience of taking part in a peer support group for older adults from the perspective of its participants. Using descriptive phenomenology, the study avoided evaluation and instead gave voice to the older adults who participated in a peer support group taking place in a retirement housing scheme in South Wales. The study had a longitudinal design with three interview phases over a 15-month period. The first phase of interviews took place whilst the group was led by professional facilitators. The second phase took place six months later when the group was led by a volunteer peer leader. The final interviews were conducted six months thereafter during the first lockdown period of the COVID-19 pandemic. Six members of the group volunteered to participate in this study of whom three became peer leaders. Sixteen one-to-one interviews of between 45 and 60 minutes were conducted over 15 months. The data gathered was analysed to identify themes using Giorgi’s method for descriptive phenomenological analysis (Giorgi, 1997). The overarching theme identified was of experiences of wellbeing. The findings suggest that wellbeing includes feelings of positive emotion such as enjoyment, amusement, feelings of being in control, being valued and pride. Wellbeing included feelings of belonging and encompassed the development of relationships with other group members and external facilitators. Participants described attending the group as provid…
author: Quinney Smyth, Miranda
language: eng
date published: 2022
date modified: 2026-07-24T04:39:51Z
provider: University of South Wales
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of South Wales