Percepciones de mujeres mayores rurales respecto de su proceso de envejecimiento

Abstract

The article presents the results of an investigation that aims to analyze the perceptions of rural older women regarding their aging process. A qualitative descriptive design based on life stories focused on the experience of female aging in a rural setting was proposed. The information gathering technique corresponded to an individual biographical interview applied to 28 older women in the Aconcagua Valley. The data collected was organized from the biological, psychological and social dimensions, analyzing the perceptions expressed by the participating women through the allocation of illustrative fragments that supported the interpretation of the information. The results obtained confirm that perceptions regarding the aging process of rural older women fully correspond to the biological, psychological and social dimensions of the concept providing rural differentiating factors that enrich the process itself, associated with the multiple tasks of rural life, which amplify their performances from obligations in housing to peasant work in the orchard; and from the particular care of the family towards the concern for the welfare of the community. On the contrary, unfavorable perceptions are manifested from the frontier zone of previous perceptions, with physical deterioration due to age being the main reason for the progressive abandonment of one's own tasks; and the precariousness of the economic income the greater limit in the opportunities of full satisfaction of its daily necessities. The rural context brings conditions of tranquility and joy to the aging process and recognizes the assessment of the vital experience of women in their role as custodian of traditions and reproduction of local culture.