CONCEPTS AND APPROACHES TO PROMOTE HAPPY AGEING IN LAMPANG, THAILAND

Abstract

Background: Many changes are taking place continuously as we age—be it physiological, physical, social, cultural and economic changes. These changes showed at the expenses of quality of life of older persons being negatively affected in certain extent.

Objective: To develop the concepts and approaches to promote happiness, a more culturally sensitive description of quality of life, in Thai older persons

Method: We followed the knowledge management process to exchange experiences focusing on aging and care of the older persons in Thailand, especially in the Province of Lampang. The participants included 20 older persons from senior citizen club and ten health professionals and lecturers who had experiences with aging and aged care. We organized the knowledge and conducted a literature review and then integrate the findings into these concepts.

RESULTS: Five concepts describe happy aging from Thai perspectives. These include 1) Karmic dependence origination, 2) Independence, 3) Dependence, 4) Interdependence, and 5) Transcendence. These concepts were translated into nine approaches to promote happy ageing as follows: 1) Healthy body and mind, 2) Ability to support family, 3) Merit making, 4) Transfer of wisdom, 5) Volunteering, 6) Saving, 7) Family success, respect and caring, 8) Contemporary living, and 9) Letting go. These concepts and approaches to happy aging were implemented at two senior citizen clubs and were used to guide community services and research in the area of aging and aged care.