Practices of Self-Care in Healthy Old Age: A Field Study

[EN] Two competing psychological approaches for how to care for oneself to stay healthy in old age have coexisted and dominated the scientific literature. Objective: Identify the self-care practices of healthy older adults and establish the relationship between these practices and the cognitive proc...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: González González, Estela, Requena Hernández, Carmen
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2023
País:España
Institución:Universidad de León
Repositorio:BULERIA. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de León
OAI Identifier:oai:buleria.unileon.es:10612/23247
Acceso en línea:https://www.mdpi.com/2308-3417/8/3/54
https://hdl.handle.net/10612/23247
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Psicología
Self-care
Older adults
Aging
Friendly
Development
2490 Neurociencias
Descripción
Sumario:[EN] Two competing psychological approaches for how to care for oneself to stay healthy in old age have coexisted and dominated the scientific literature. Objective: Identify the self-care practices of healthy older adults and establish the relationship between these practices and the cognitive processes involved. Method: 105 healthy older people (83.91% women) recorded their self-care practices using the Care Time Test and underwent a cognitive evaluation. Results: The frequency and variety of different activities that participants spent performing on a day of the week where they had the fewest obligations are as follows: nearly 7 h on seven survival activities, 4 h and 30 min on three maintenance of functional independence activities and 1 h on one activity that promoted personal development. Older people who carry out activities in a developmental approach showed better everyday memory (8.63 points) and attention levels (7.00 points) than older people who carry out activities using a conservative approach (memory: 7.43; attention level: 6.40). Conclusion: The results evidenced that the frequency and variety of activities that promote personal development are associated with better attention and memory performance.