Dificultades encontradas en el desarrollo del proyecto

This research applied a qualitative approach to gain a thick description that capture Chinese older adults’ conceptualization of home and aging experiences in LTC service settings. To comprehensively examine the notion of home in relation to place, five different LTC

institutions of difference sizes in Xi’an were selected as research sites. Among these institutions, two of them were large in size, defined as having more than 300 residents; two of them were middle sized facilities, defined as having more than 100 residents but less than 300; and one small facility, defined as having less than 100 residents. All institutions provide basic caring services from self-care to full care. Elders may select different types of room according to their affordability and needs, including suites, single bed rooms, double beds rooms, and triple bed rooms. The large and median sized facilities often provide classes, recreational activities and social services, while the small sized facility focuses on providing fundamental care services.

3.2.2 Sample Selection

Given that this particular research requires elderly participants to clearly express their opinions and communicate with the interviewer, older adults with dementia or in severe health conditions were purposively excluded from the sample. To be eligible for this study, elderly residents had to be 55 years-old and over and have resided in the facility for more than two months. Also, to increase the diversity of the sample, I made an effort to recruit elderly

participants from different age, gender, career, caring levels, and experiences with different LTC facilities.

To avoid recruiting participants who do not meet sample selection criteria, part of the participants were recommended by the facility. For instance, one of the large sized facilities provided a list of residents who met our selection criteria and showed interests for the interview. Among the other four facilities, with the permission of staff, we recruited participants through purposive sampling. Prior to approaching potential participants, the interviewer inquired

caregivers about residents’ health conditions to make sure that the interview could be conducted safely and effectively. Participants’ demographic information is presented in Table 1.

Table 2. Demographic characteristics of elderly participants (N=30)

Pseudonyms Gender Age in

years Number of children Length of residence Caring level

1.Li Male 81 5 1 ½ years Completely self-care

2.Wang Male 70 2 2 years Partially self-care

3.Zhang Female 91 2 6 years Partially self-care

4.Liu Female 80 4 7 months Partially self-care

5.Chen Female 90 1 5 years Partially self-care

6.Yang Female 78 3 3 years Completely self-care

7.Zhao Male 59 1 4 years Partially self-care

8.Huang Female 77 5 2 years Completely self-care

9.Zhou Female 80 4 4 years Completely self-care

10.Wu Female 74 0 9 years Completely self-care

11.Xu Female 78 3 2 years Full care

12.Sun Female 92 2 5 years Partially self-care

13.Hu Male 81 1 1 year Partially self-care

15.Gao Female 80 2 3 years Full care

16.Lin Female 88 2 5 years Completely self-care

17.He Female 73 3 10 years Completely self-care

18.Guo Female 84 4 3 years Completely self-care

19.Ma Female 77 3 2 years Full care

20.Luo Male 70 3 2 years Partially self-care

21.Liang Female 78 2 3 years Completely self-care

22.Song Female 76 4 2 months Completely self-care

23.Zheng Female 78 2 3 months Partially self-care

24.Xie Male 62 0 6 months Full care

25.Han Male 85 5 6 months Completely self-care

26.Tang Female 71 1 6 months Partially self-care

27.Feng Female 83 4 1 years Partially self-care

28.Yu Male 57 0 6 months Full care

29.Dong Female 82 1 2 years Full care

30.Xiao Female 75 4 3 years Full care

3.2.3 Data Collection Procedure

The data was collected through semi-structured, in-depth personal interviews. After gathered participants’ socio-demographic information, they were asked to answer four major categories of questions, including life course events, LTC transaction and selection criteria, life in the facility, and home experiences. The four categories of questions were designed to elicit participants’ thoughts, feelings, and experiences in relation to aging in LTC environments. Although the structure of interviews was set, the participants were encouraged and given sufficient time and freedom to share their perspectives, stories or expand discussions according to their will.

All interview sessions were audio-recorded and filed notes were taken simultaneously. Most interviews lasted from 30 to 60 minutes, with the longest session about 2 hours. Prior to the interview, elderly participants were clearly informed about the research, data collection method, as well as the procedure of protecting individual information in the use of data. Confidentiality of interview was strictly applied, especially when participants showed anxious about disclose

information to staff and caregivers. To protect participants’ privacy and smooth the conversation, all interviews took place in residents’ bedroom or conference rooms with door closed.

3.2.4 Data Analysis

All recorded tapes were transcribed in Chinese, and the transcriptions along with field notes were logged into qualitative data management software (ATLAS.ti) for analysis. The data analysis followed by modified grounded theory approach (Strauss & Corbin, 1998). Once the data pool was set, the analytical process began with line-by-line open coding, breaking the data into small categories. For example, categories emerged from open coding include: children’s supports, personal willingness of LTC placement, evaluation of caring services, safety concerns, participation in structured activities, maintenance of personal hobbies, relationships with

neighbors, and etc. After the initial coding procedure, axial coding was applied to ascertain the interconnection between categories, exploring how categories were related, contextualized, and perhaps intervened with one another (Strauss & Corbin, 1998). With axial coding, the

relationships between categories were emerged. For example, the nature of family life and elders’ health conditions influenced their intention of aging in LTC settings, residents’

preferences of participating in group activities was associated with their sense of belonging; and maintenance of personal hobbies granted elders with feeling of continuity and purpose in life. During this process, a relation diagram was created to visualize and denote the interactions between categories. Finally, categories in relation were combined to form a larger theoretical scheme, where core categories were generated (Strauss & Corbin, 1998). All participants made comments on how life has changed in regard to alternation of living environments from home to aging in LTC service settings. The notion of home was circulated in participants’ stories and experiences, which served as the core category in this research.