Abstract
We develop our case for the use of the rites of passage framework in analysing the transition into the age of supported independence, before establishing assessment as the key point in the first step of separation in that process. Assessment can be perceived as a ritual process signalling movement away from a former identity and the beginnings of a new identity. Within the assessment the older person’s life is exposed and the individual is defined in terms of his or her unmet needs. The older person appears as relatively powerless though this process. The assessment, then, is a significant biographical disruption that signals the start of the passage of the older person from independence to increasing dependence.
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Hale, B., Barrett, P., Gauld, R. (2010). The Move from Independence. In: The Age of Supported Independence. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8814-7_2
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