Seniors’ Survival Trajectories and the Illness Connection

Abstract

In a recent life history research, 100 out of 190 randomly selected seniors from a Canadian prairie city determined that their lives were survival trajectories, many with connections to their present illnesses. Seniors told of surviving the Great Depression and World War II, making hard decisions, and experiencing adversities that changed their life courses and perceptions. Completed in 2003, this 5-year study consisted of two phases. The first phase, an ethnomethod, sought the meaning seniors ascribe to illness and healing. The second phase was a reentry of the initial data. Highlighting seniors’ stories shows how hard decisions evolved and contrasts can be made in seniors’ narratives. Through seniors’ analyses of their own lives, findings in this inquiry demonstrate how the price of survival is embedded in ways of perceiving adverse experiences. Those who avoided facing adversities in making difficult decisions were those who now blame illnesses on life experiences.