Elderly and Dissatisfaction in Family Relations (Phenemonoligical Study among Tehranian Elderly)

Abstract

This study deals with study of dissatisfactions of Tehranian elders in family relations in order to understand the nature, types and lived experience of the elderly in dissatisfaction in these relationships by using qualitative approach and phenomenology method. Sampling method was purposeful sampling with a combination of convenience and snow-balling strategies. The study population consisted of 30 elderly men and women in Tehran, which was done semi-structured deep interviews and data was analyzed by thematic analysis. The findings suggest that the elderly, while having neglect understanding of dissatisfaction, had multiple experiences of dissatisfaction and its types, most notably verbal abuse, physical abuse, emotional/affectional abuse, discredit and lack of care by family members. Dissatisfaction can be classified into five categories according to the types of abuses experienced by the elderly in family relationships: emotional dissatisfaction, verbal dissatisfaction, care dissatisfaction, economic and financial dissatisfaction, and physical dissatisfaction. The elderly have taken different strategies to deal with these dissatisfactions, most notably silence and tolerance, and selective exclusion. The findings indicate that the elderly, although experiencing duplicate and multiple dissatisfactions, but the form of this experience is’nt comprehensice and follows a different pattern among elderly people in terms of men/women, illiterate/literate, and employed/non-employed.

Keywords

• aging
• dissatisfaction
• elder abuse
• family relationships
• phenomenology