Authors

• Hoppania, Hanna-Kaisa (Age Institute)
• Vilkko, Anni (Age Institute)

Keywords

activities of daily living, ageing, elderly, life changes, life cycle, participation, social influence

Abstract

The dataset consists of interviews with elderly people in which the interviewees reflect on the course of their lives, everyday life, and participation in the Age Institute's Elämänote programme project. The interviews were conducted as peer interviews and the Age Institute trained and supported the interviewers during the project. The interviewers and interviewees were not previously acquainted with each other, but they lived in the same area. The aim of the study was to interview each of the interviewees a total of three times, of which two interviews took place within approximately two weeks and a third interview approximately a year after the first interview.

The main themes of the interviews included the everyday lives of elderly people and their need for help in managing their everyday lives. The interviews consisted of questions on the interviewees' situation in life, factors that limited their ability to live their everyday lives, and the support they received as part of their everyday lives. Further questions focused on the future and how the interviewees thought that they would fare in the future. In addition to this, the interviewees were asked about the course of their lives and which things in their lives were important to them. The interviewees could also reflect on their participation in and their ability to influence everyday activities in their lives. In the third and final interview, the interviewees could leave a message for policymakers on topics that they felt were important to elderly people or on topics concerning elderly people for which they hoped for improvement on a societal level. Each of the three interviews had its own interview structure.

Background information included the date of the interview, the duration of the interview, and the interviewee's gender. The data were organised into an easy to use HTML version at FSD.

The dataset is only available in Finnish.