Well-Being in Old Age : a Question of Both Continuity and Change

In this chapter, we are concerned with the well-being of people in old age, living at a residential care home (RCH), and how well-being can be supported in gerontological social work and care at the RCH. Based on empirical data consisting of well-being narratives with elderly residents (average age of 91), a dialogical performance analysis was undertaken about their experiences of well-being at the RCH. The findings of importance are reported through three themes: (1) childhood memories as a source of well-being, (2) family and work as a source of well-being, and (3) opportunities for the well-being of the elderly at the RCH. To be an individual with others is a phenomenon of a personal sense of self and a phenomenon of sociality. Well-being is also found in the individual’s self-renewal. Well-being is about a sense of both individual continuity and change. Well-being is created in social situations with others (including caregivers) in daily interactions and in human contacts at the RCH. This kind of individual self-renewal is about human growth and is a human need regardless of age. Consequently, the human growth in (and despite) old age at RCH should be the main target of gerontological social work and care.