Document Type

Honors Paper

Advisor

Ana Campos-Manzo

Publication Date

2026

Abstract

This study examines how older adults interpret their experiences with physical and recreational activity in assisted living, and how these interpretations influence how they engage in their everyday social and physical contexts. In the fall of 2025, eleven older adults—nine women and two men—living in an assisted living facility in a coastal city in Southeastern Connecticut participated in in-depth semi-structured interviews. The facility provides both short-term post-acute care and long-term residential care, offering structured opportunities for physical and recreational engagement.

Past research demonstrates that participation in physical and recreational activity provides substantial benefits for older adults; yet, the lived experience of older adults and their voices are missing. This study seeks to understand how older adults decide to engage or disengage from activities and how they make meaning of those decisions. Data were analyzed using qualitative coding informed by symbolic interactionism and critical gerontology, allowing for an examination of meaning making at the interactional level while situating those meanings within institutional and structural contexts.

Findings indicate that older adults do not primarily participate in activities as a means to improve long-term health outcomes. Instead, decisions around activity are shaped by autonomy, enjoyment, identity continuity, social orientation, and perceived ability. Declining physical or cognitive capacity often served as a deterrent, while mismatches between programming and residents’ abilities or interests limited engagement. Gender also emerged as an important dimension, with women’s voices dominating the data and men’s minimal elaboration reflecting gendered norms around expression and independence.

These findings contribute to gerontological literature by centering older adults’ lived experiences and highlighting the importance of personal meaning, identity, and choice in shaping engagement. The study suggests that older adults are active meaning-makers who selectively negotiate participation within the structural constraints of assisted living.

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The views expressed in this paper are solely those of the author.