Old age, retirement villages and New Zealand society : a critical narrative analysis of the experiences of retirement village residents : a dissertation presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctorate in Clinical Psychology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
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Date
2018
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Massey University
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Abstract
There is a paucity of critical research that examines the experiences of retirement village
residents in New Zealand. The research objective was to critically analyse how retirement
village residents in New Zealand made sense of their experience of living in a retirement
village and to locate these experiences within the wider socio-political context. Multiple
interviews were carried out individually with fourteen retirement village residents from
one retirement village in Auckland, New Zealand. Their personal narratives, about their
experience of moving to and living in a retirement village, were analysed using a critical
narrative analytical approach, based on a social constructionist perspective. The way that
the participants made sense of old age drew on ageist societal narratives that depict old
age as a time of physical decline and loss of ability, mobility, social supports,
independence and autonomy. These loss narratives devalue older adults and so
undermined the participants’ ability to locate themselves positively in the interview.
Consequently, they drew on a young-old subject position in order to resist loss
narratives. This research considers the socially constructed nature of loss narratives, by
discussing the Western cultural values and assumptions that underpin them. The
participants made sense of their move to the retirement village as a solution to decline
and loss in old age. Analysis of the solutions that the participants sought at the village
highlights that societal practices in New Zealand contribute to losses in old age. Yet, the
participants indicated that the retirement village did not always provide the solutions
they had hoped for and presented them with additional problems. Therefore, the
retirement village represents an imperfect solution to problems in old age that are partly
created by current societal practices. This study explores how retirement villages are a
culturally specific solution that reflects dominant political ideologies, cultural values, and
societal narratives that exist in New Zealand society. Overall, this study argues that
alternative societal narratives that ascribe value to the ageing process will better
promote the interests of older people. Furthermore, the problems that older adults face
will be better solved by directly addressing the societal practices that create them.
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Keywords
Retirement communities, Older people, Social conditions, Old age, Social aspects, New Zealand, Research Subject Categories::INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH AREAS::Older people and ageing