Three-wait-citizen: narratives of lived experiences of older persons with depression in Macau

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.