Life lived well: A description of wellness across the lifespan of a senior woman

Abstract

The concept of wellness provides a positive view of life development that can support psychological support and counseling. There is little in the literature about wellness and seniors, especially women. This study describes one senior woman's wellness across the life span by addressing two research questions: (a) What are the experiences of one woman's wellness across the life span as analyzed through the lens of the Indivisible Self (Myers & Sweeney, 2004, 2005) model of wellness; and (b) What experiences does one woman describe related to the model's second order factors: the Creative Self; the Coping Self; the Social Self; the Essential Self; and the Physical Self? We used an oral history method to gather the narrative and analyzed her narrative using the Indivisible Self model of wellness. Findings include a descriptive picture of wellness for this woman as it relates to the Second Order factors of the Indivisible Self model. © 2012: Whitney L. Jarnagin, Marianne Woodside, and Nova Southeastern University.