Meaning of Elderly Living in Elderly Care Centers (Phenomenology)

The purpose of this study was to investigate the meaning of life in elderly people living in retention centers. The methodological approach used in this study is qualitative and the research method is phenomenological. The research population of all the elderly in Tehran was 1397. Among them, 15 elderly people who were kept in nursing homes voluntarily and purposefully participated in this study. Six of the elderly were women and 9 were men. The selection criteria were those over 65 years of age. Information was collected and recorded through in-depth, semi-structured in-person interviews. Data were analyzed by qualitative data coding method. The analysis unit in this study was sentence. The findings were obtained in 73 subcategories that were categorized into 11 main categories: Belief in God and the Hereafter, Fun, Marriage, Marriage, Relationships, Pleasures, Dealing with New Generation, Worries, Hopes, Health and life definition. The elderly in the present study benefit from living in the elderly home with less communication and enjoyment than their hobbies. It seems that two basic factors of life expectancy and their definition of algebraic life have an important role in the meaning of life in the elderly.