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Richardson, Emma 
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7409-778X and Motl, R.
(2025)
A Phenomenological Understanding of Aging ‘Well’ with Multiple Sclerosis.
The Gerontologist.
pp. 1-31.
ISSN Print: 0016-9013; Online: 1758-5341
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Abstract
Background and Objectives: As the life expectancy of the multiple sclerosis (MS) community increases, new innovations and understandings of what it is to age ‘well’ are needed. Building on a line of work exploring the meaning and experiences of aging with a disabling condition ,and showing how and why people aging with MS experience this phenomenon differently, this paper progresses aging and disability literature by (re)conceptualizing what ‘wellbeing’ means to people aging with MS, and how wellbeing may be enhanced or compromised. Research Design and Methods: Working with 40 persons with MS over the age of 60, we used a Heideggerian phenomenological framework to co-construct what wellbeing meant among persons aging with MS. Results: Emphasizing the importance of the ‘everdayness’ of wellbeing experiences, persons aging with MS discussed how wellbeing was related to ‘Doing, Being, and Becoming; the ability to do the things they wanted to do, be the person they wanted to be, and the autonomy, opportunity, and ability to do something or become someone different’. The ability to be, do or become was, however dependent on, ‘the power of people’, ‘sociocultural privilege’ and ‘writing one’s own health narrative’. Implications: These findings, that are contextualized within the socio-cultural boundaries of participants’ situations, can help support persons with MS, families and friends, caregivers, health care professionals and interventionists that are working towards enhancing the quality of life among persons aging with MS.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | This version of the article is the Accepted Manuscript, and is made available on the journal site with the following statement: Accepted manuscripts are PDF versions of the author’s final manuscript, as accepted for publication by the journal but prior to copyediting or typesetting. They can be cited using the author(s), article title, journal title, year of online publication, and DOI. They will be replaced by the final typeset articles, which may therefore contain changes. The DOI will remain the same throughout. |
| Uncontrolled Discrete Keywords: | aging, caregivers, health personnel, life expectancy, multiple sclerosis, disability, quality improvement, community, cultural factors |
| Divisions: | College of Business, Psychology and Sport > School of Sport and Exercise Science |
| Related URLs: | |
| Copyright Info: | © The Author(s) 2025. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Gerontological Society of America., This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) |
| Depositing User: | Emma Richardson |
| Date Deposited: | 07 Feb 2025 15:01 |
| Last Modified: | 14 Apr 2025 11:54 |
| URI: | https://eprints.worc.ac.uk/id/eprint/14588 |
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