Community Nurses' Experiences Regarding the Meaning and Promotion of Healthy Aging in Northeastern Thailand

Abstract

Purpose: Describe community nurses' experiences regarding the meaning and promotion of healthy aging in northeastern Thailand.

Method: Data were collected through five focus group interviews with 36 community nurses in northeastern Thailand. Latent content analysis was conducted to analyze the data.

Findings: Healthy aging was characterized by the interconnection of older persons, older persons' family members, and the community. Healthy aging was associated with two themes: "being strong" and "being a supporter and feeling supported." The nurses' experiences in promoting healthy aging were described by the themes "providing health assessment," "sharing knowledge," and "having limited resources."

Conclusions: The findings of this study provide a deeper understanding of the meaning of healthy aging from a holistic viewpoint. Community nurses must pay attention to older persons and their surroundings when planning how to promote healthy aging. Person-centeredness should be applied in practice to promote healthy aging. The current findings contribute useful information that should help policy makers develop healthy aging strategies in Thailand.

Keywords: Thai nurses; health promotion; healthy aging; holistic care; older people; person-centeredness; qualitative research.