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“With Age Comes Wisdom:” a Qualitative Review of Elder Perspectives on Healthy Aging in the Circumpolar North

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Abstract

Cross-cultural research has shown marked variation in health outcomes across the world’s older adult populations. Indeed, older adults in the Circumpolar North experience a variety of health disparities. Because aging is a biological process rooted in sociocultural context, there exists great variation in the ways older adults define and experience healthy, or “successful,” aging in their communities. The aim of this analysis was to synthesize qualitative research among older residents (aged 50+ years) in the Circumpolar North to identify a definition of healthy aging common in the region. A thorough review was conducted across a variety of academic search databases for peer-reviewed, qualitative studies conducted among community-dwelling older adults. The search strategy initially identified 194 articles; 23 articles met the inclusion criteria. Included studies were coded and analyzed using Grounded Theory to examine underlying themes of healthy aging in the Circumpolar North. The findings reveal the importance older adults place on respect, their relationship to the land, and psychosocial resilience into multidimensional models of healthy aging. This research also highlights the need for increased translational research with populations in the Circumpolar North that are under-represented in the literature.

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Acknowledgements

Support provided by the Alaska EPSCoR National Science Foundation award #OIA-1757348 and the state of Alaska. The authors wish to thank Ruby Fried and the anonymous reviewers for providing valuable feedback on earlier drafts of this article.

Funding

This study was funded by Alaska EPSCoR NSF award #OIA-1757348.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Population Health Sciences, University of Alaska Anchorage, 3211 Providence Drive, BOC3 #233, Anchorage, AK, 99508, USA

    Britteny M. Howell

  2. National Resource Center for Alaska Native Elders, University of Alaska Anchorage, Anchorage, AK, USA

    Britteny M. Howell & Jennifer R. Peterson

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, USA

    Jennifer R. Peterson

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  1. Britteny M. Howell
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Correspondence to Britteny M. Howell.

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Howell, B.M., Peterson, J.R. “With Age Comes Wisdom:” a Qualitative Review of Elder Perspectives on Healthy Aging in the Circumpolar North. J Cross Cult Gerontol 35, 113–131 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10823-020-09399-4

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