Ageing without close family - who cares?

Thank you for your interest in participating in our study on ageing without close family, that is, without a partner and children! In most of the Western world, including Sweden, it has become increasingly common to age without close family. More than one in ten people over the age of 75 have no children of their own and this will become even more common in future generations. Being or becoming single is also more common as people get older. Despite this, there is a lack of knowledge about ageing without a close family.

How do you, as a 75+, feel about ageing without a partner and children? What does this mean for your experience of ageing?

A starting point for the project is that the absence of close family can be voluntary or involuntary to varying degrees and that the significance for aging can therefore vary between different people. We want to study this based on personal stories from those who are older than 75 years!

Research plan for the project Ageing without close family Word, 150.3 kB.

1. How do older people without close family experience their ageing and well-being?
2. How do older people without close family describe their social networks and their importance for well-being in later life?
3. How do past life experiences and the reasons for not having close family affect the answers to questions 1 and 2?
4. What is the impact of gender and need for help on the answers to questions 1 and 2?

The principal investigator is Torbjörn Bildtgård, Stockholm University.

The interview will address the following themes:
1) Experiences of aging without close family
2) Social networks
3) The life lived, life choices and turning points that led to aging without close family.

You can choose the location of the interview yourself. We are happy to come to your home and conduct the interview, but you can also choose to participate via video link. The interview will take approximately 1-1.5 hours. The interviews will be recorded and then printed. No unauthorized persons will be able to access the audio files or transcripts.

Your participation in the study is completely voluntary. As an interviewee, you can choose not to answer a question at any time during the interview, or choose to stop the interview, without giving any reason. You can also withdraw your participation after the interview has been completed. To withdraw your participation, contact the researcher in charge.

The project complies with accepted research ethics principles and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR, Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council) and the Swedish Freedom of Information and Secrecy Act (SFS 2009:400).

The principal of the research project is Stockholm University. The Data Protection Officer at Stockholm University is Cristina Pérez, telephone 08-16 23 52 or e-mail cristina.perez@su.se. Your answers will be treated in such a way that unauthorized persons cannot access them. All transcripts of the interviews will be de-identified. No information that can be linked to you as an informant will appear in publications from the project.

All personal data, such as the name and telephone number of the interviewees, will be stored in a locked cabinet in a locked room at Stockholm University, and will be deleted when the study is completed. The processing of your personal data is necessary to carry out research in the public interest (GDPR, Art 6, p. 1e). You can contact the Swedish Data Protection Authority at any time if you have any complaints about the project regarding the processing of your personal data. If you wish, you can access the interview by requesting a de-identified transcript.