Practices of Self-Care in Healthy Old Age: A Field Study

Abstract

Two competing psychological approaches for how to care for oneself to stay healthy in old age have coexisted and dominated the scientific literature. Objective: Identify the self-care practices of healthy older adults and establish the relationship between these practices and the cognitive processes involved. Method: 105 healthy older people (83.91% women) recorded their self-care practices using the Care Time Test and underwent a cognitive evaluation. Results: The frequency and variety of different activities that participants spent performing on a day of the week where they had the fewest obligations are as follows: nearly 7 h on seven survival activities, 4 h and 30 min on three maintenance of functional independence activities and 1 h on one activity that promoted personal development. Older people who carry out activities in a developmental approach showed better everyday memory (8.63 points) and attention levels (7.00 points) than older people who carry out activities using a conservative approach (memory: 7.43; attention level: 6.40). Conclusion: The results evidenced that the frequency and variety of activities that promote personal development are associated with better attention and memory performance.