Extending the Critical Gerontology Perspective: Cultural Dimensions. Introduction

Luborsky, Mark; Sankar, Andrea

doi:10.1093/geront/33.4.440

Cited by 32 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…This article noted that sampling concerns are widespread in American culture rather than in the esoteric specialized concern of scientific endeavors (Luborsky and Sankar 1993). Core scientific research principles are also basic cultural ideals (Luborsky 1994).…”

Section: Summary and Reformulation For Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

“…A second example is the growing awareness of the extent to which past research tended to define problems of disability or depression narrowly in terms of the individual's ability, or failure, to adjust, without giving adequate attention to the societal level sources of the individual's distress (Cohen and Sokolovsky 1989). Thus researchers need to demonstrate an awareness of how the particular questions guiding qualitative research, the methods and styles of analyses, are influenced by cultural and historical settings of the research (Luborsky and Sankar 1993) in order to keep clear whose meanings are being reported.…”

Section: Sensitivity To Contextsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sampling in Qualitative Research

1995

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In gerontology the most recognized and elaborate discourse about sampling is generally thought to be in quantitative research associated with survey research and medical research. But sampling has long been a central concern in the social and humanistic inquiry, albeit in a different guise suited to the different goals. There is a need for more explicit discussion of qualitative sampling issues. This article will outline the guiding principles and rationales, features, and practices of sampling in qualitative research. It then describes common questions about sampling in qualitative research. In conclusion it proposes the concept of qualitative clarity as a set of principles (analogous to statistical power) to guide assessments of qualitative sampling in a particular study or proposal.Questions of what is an appropriate research sample are common across the many disciplines of gerontology, albeit in different guises. The basic questions concern what to observe and how many observations or cases are needed to assure that the findings will contribute useful information. Throughout the history of gerontology, the most recognized and elaborate discourse about sampling has been associated with quantitative research, including survey and medical research. But concerns about sampling have long been central to social and humanistic inquiry (e.g., Mead 1953). The authors argue such concerns remained less recognized by quantitative researchers because of differing focus, concepts, and language. Recently, an explicit discussion about concepts and procedures for qualitative sampling issues has emerged. Despite the growing numbers of textbooks on qualitative research, most offer only a brief discussion of sampling issues, and far less is presented in a critical fashion (Gubrium and Sankar 1994;Werner and Schoepfle 1987;Spradley 1979Spradley , 1980Strauss and Corbin 1990;Trotter 1991; but cf. Denzin and Lincoln 1994;DePoy and Gitlin 1993;Miles and Huberman 1994;Pelto and Pelto 1978).The goal of this article is to extend and further refine the explicit discussion of sampling issues and techniques for qualitative research in gerontology. Throughout the article, the discussion draws on a variety of examples in aging, disability, ethnicity as well as more general anthropology.The significance of the need to understand qualitative sampling and its uses is increasing for several reasons. First, emerging from the normal march of scientific developments that builds on prior research, there is a growing consensus about the necessity of complementing standardized data with insights about the contexts and insiders' perspectives on aging and the elderly. These data are best provided by qualitative approaches. In gerontology, the historical focus on aging pathology obscured our view of the role of culture and personal meanings in shaping how individuals at every level of cognitive and physical functioning personally experience and shape their lives. The individual embodying a "case" or "symptoms" continues to make sense of, manage...

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Section: Summary and Reformulation For Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Sensitivity To Contextsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sampling in Qualitative Research

1995

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“…At the same time that we examine challenges to personhood we must ask how the challenges we see are a by-product of a particular construction of the "person" itself. The definition of persons and their capabilities is inseparable from wider sociopolitical times (Luborsky and Sankar 1993). Intrinsic to the guiding question for the collection of articles in this issue, threats to adult identity, is a historical set of concepts about society and the person (cf.…”

Section: Evolving Concepts Of the Adult Person: Questioning Concerns mentioning

confidence: 99%

The cultural adversity of physical disability: Erosion of full adult personhood

Luborsky

1994

Journal of Aging Studies

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Adversities facing people with disabilities include barriers to meeting daily needs and to social life. Yet, too, fundamental social devaluation erodes an individual's capacity to retain title to the cultural category of a full person. These cultural adversities are important components in the disablement process. The cultural meanings for physical dependency convey images of childlike, dependent, incomplete persons near death. Using interviews with middle aged and elderly polio survivors, the author identifies key cultural categories, the expectations and values linked with disability and describe the strategies people use to confront, or not, the erosion of personhood. The importance of understanding the category of the person, its historical setting, and evolution are highlighted. Finally, the inversion of traditional cultural logics for defining the personhood of individuals with disabilities is illustrated.Severe physical impairments pose a host of hardships, some of which are more obvious than others. Impairments limit the ability to do basic daily tasks that sustain the body and the spirit. Eating, moving around, bathing, and taking part in valued personal and social life through holding a job and leisure activities all require extra efforts. Being unable to perform valued activities fosters social devaluation and low self-regard. Yet, the social devaluation is corrosive to people with disabilities at a more implicit cultural level.One of the cultural consequences of having disabilities is that an individual's identity as a complete person comes into question rather than remaining taken for granted. Being unable to fully perform normatively valued activities and roles in the workplace, home, and community challenges an individual's core identity as a full adult person. The erosion of personhood that is associated with disability is a cultural level adversity that is not well understood. The aim of this article is to examine and illustrate these issues. It will contribute an understanding of individual values, motivations, and actions as situated within an ecology of cultural contexts one of which is the category of personhood. To begin, basic concepts and orientations need to be made explicit.

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“…The theory is that the situations or events are those to which everyone is exposed, to a greater or lesser extent, during the life course, but it cannot be assumed that the psychological meaning, emotion, or social desirability attached to an event is culture-free or the same for everyone. Culture bounds the shared beliefs and understandings that give meaning to social experience (Luborsky & Sankar, 1991). Because research has shown that the subjective appraisal of events as stressful or negative is strongly related to their impact (George, 1990;Lazarus & DeLongis, 1983) and that subjective appraisal is influenced by culture, the lack of attention to cultural and ethnic differences is surprising.…”

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confidence: 99%

American Indian Elders and Depression: Short-and Long-Term Effects of Life Events

et al. 2004

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This research examines stressful life events as predictors of psychological problems among a population of older American Indians of the Great Lakes region. It assumes that meaning attached to these events is not culture-free. The data used are from a longitudinal study of 309 American Indians age 55 and older who were interviewed at two time periods in three distinct strata: urban, rural (off-reservation), and reservation. Life events are measured by the presence and perceived severity of 19 discrete events. Hierarchical regression analysis is used to determine the influence of life events on depression after controlling for sociodemographic factors, functional ability, and comorbidity at both Time 1 and 18 to 24 months later at Time 2. Although Time 1 depression accounts for most of the variance at Time 2, comorbidity was also a significant predictor over time. Whereas life stress has a short-term effect on mental health, the burden of comorbidity increases over time.

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Extending the Critical Gerontology Perspective: Cultural Dimensions. Introduction

Cited by 32 publications

References 9 publications

Sampling in Qualitative Research

Sampling in Qualitative Research

The cultural adversity of physical disability: Erosion of full adult personhood

American Indian Elders and Depression: Short-and Long-Term Effects of Life Events

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