The purpose of this article is to report findings from two studies of community-dwelling older adults. The focus of both studies was on delineating relationships among perceived enactment of autonomy (PEA) and selected self-care and health variables from the perspective of Modeling and Role-Modeling nursing theory. Results indicated that PEA, representing the potential for self-care action, was positively correlated to perceived control and morale in Study 1 and to life satisfaction in Study 2. Significant differences in PEA scores were found based on the health indicators of participation in social activities and reliance on others for shopping in Study 2. In addition, Study 1 found that morale, gender, age, perceived control, and education accounted for 39% of the variance in PEA. Implications are discussed for designing theory-based holistic nursing interventions to support PEA in older adults and to direct future research.

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The eudaemonistic model of health is congruent with nursing's primary aim of practice and nursing's ethical imperative to support client autonomy. Although autonomy has been linked to holistic health, the definition of autonomy has been imprecise. This is especially problematic when working with the elderly. For clarification, a concept analysis of autonomy was completed. This led to further refinement and development of a new concept, perceived enactment of autonomy. This definition represents the subjective perceptions of the ability to act autonomously. Interventions derived from the nursing theory, Modeling and Role-Modeling (Erickson et al., 1983/1988), and supportive of perceived enactment of autonomy and environments conducive to healing within the eudaemonistic health paradigm are proposed.