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It is reported that the thesis section is available, to publish abstracts of postgraduate theses in the disciplinary field. Who submits your thesis, must present the title, abstract, key words (include Occupational Therapy), and a summary of 2 to 3 pages of your thesis. And `present it in Spanish, English and / or Portuguese.

Retirement: an occupational transition with consequences on temporality, rhuythm and balance

Authors

  • Hans Jonsson Associated Professor, Director of Master Program in Occupational Therapy, Karolinska Institutet.
  • Lena Borell Associated Professor and Head of Research Department at the Division of Occupational Therapy, Karolinska Instituted
  • Gaynor Sadlo Head Division of the División Occupational Therapy, University of Brighton

Abstract

The aim of this study was to explore retirement as an occupational transition. Twenty-nine participants aged 66 years were interviewed and the data analysed using a comparative qualitative method. The analysis showed that a new temporal structure developed where the participants were gliding into a slower rhythm. Some occupations also changed meaning when they were performed in the new circumstances of retirement. A common pattern in the transition was to go from one imbalance, where work took too much time in life, to another type of imbalance where some kind of regular commitment within retirement would have been preferable. The discussion relates the findings concerning meaning and rhythm to concepts in dynamic systems theory. The importance of regular commitments in life for experience of occupational balance and the changing perspective of the future are also discussed.

Keywords:

Temporal adaptation, occupational rythm, qualitative methods.

Author Biographies

Hans Jonsson, Associated Professor, Director of Master Program in Occupational Therapy, Karolinska Institutet.

Ph.D., OT(reg), Associated Professor, Director of Master Program in Occupational Therapy, Karolinska Institutet, Department of NEUROTEC Division of Occupational Therapy.

Contacto:
Alfred Nobels allé 23. S-141 83 Huddinge Sweden.
Internet address: http://www.ki.se/cnsf/occther/hansj.htm
E-mail: Hans.Jonsson@neurotec.ki.se

Lena Borell, Associated Professor and Head of Research Department at the Division of Occupational Therapy, Karolinska Instituted

PhD, OT (reg), Associated Professor and Head of Research Department at the Division of Occupational Therapy, Karolinska Instituted, Stockholm, Sweden.

Gaynor Sadlo, Head Division of the División Occupational Therapy, University of Brighton

Ph.D., SROT, Head Division of the División Occupational Therapy, University of Brighton, United Kingdom.