Abstract:
Three meta-categories are drawn from the dominant categories and themes reflected across
the findings; physical/material meta-category, social/family meta-category, and mental
suffering meta-category. These three meta-categories illuminate the complex phenomenon of
depression among these older persons in Macau. The associated explanatory framework
models the relationships between the three meta-categories. Each interacts with the others,
consequently one meta-category both causes and also results from others. The three metacategories
capture their life-long hardship and bio-psycho-social-cultural disability, which
lay at the root of their negative thinking. The consequences and impacts of their negative
thinking appear to feed and sustain depression among the older persons.
Findings from this study offer a deeper understanding of the nature and meaning of the
negative feelings experienced by this depressed population in Macau. Through its fully
grounded interpretative research approach, the present study has advanced previous
research describing depression among Chinese older person by allowing a wider and more
complete picture to be produced. Furthermore, these findings help to inform future health
service development for older persons and the future development of interventions for older
persons with depression in Macau, and in other Chinese contexts.
