Background: Hong Kong has one of the highest life expectancy rankings in the world. The number of centenarians and near-centenarians has been increasing locally and internationally. The relative growth of this population is a topic of immense importance for population and health policy makers. Living long and living well are two overlapping but distinct research topics. We previously conducted a quantitative study on 153 near-centenarians and centenarians to explore a wide range of biopsychosocial correlates of health and "living long". This paper reports a follow-up qualitative study examining the potential correlates of "living well" among near-centenarians and centenarians in Hong Kong. Methods. Six cognitively, physically, and psychologically sound community-dwelling elders were purposively recruited from a previous quantitative study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted. Results: Four major themes related to living long and well emerged from the responses of the participants: (a) Positive relations with others, (b) Positive events and happiness, (c) Hope for the future, and (d) Positive life attitude. Specifically, we found that having good interpersonal relationships, possessing a collection of positive life events, and maintaining salutary attitudes towards life are considered as important to psychological well-being by long-lived adults in Hong Kong. Most participants perceived their working life as most important to their life history and retired at very old ages. Conclusions: These findings also shed light on the relationships between health, work, and old age. © 2014 Wong et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
CITATION STYLE
Wong, W. C. P., Lau, H. P. B., Kwok, C. F. N., Leung, Y. M. A., Chan, M. Y. G., Chan, W. M., & Cheung, S. L. K. (2014). The well-being of community-dwelling near-centenarians and centenarians in Hong Kong a qualitative study. BMC Geriatrics, 14(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2318-14-63
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