The lived experience of health among older Guatemalan women

Older Guatemalan women living in farmworking communities represent a vulnerable population enduring extreme poverty, leading to decline of their health. A phenomenological approach was selected as the qualitative research methodology to describe their lived experience of health. Pender's (2002) Health Promotion Model was used as the conceptual framework guiding the inquiry. Nine women, living in South Florida, were interviewed using their secondary language, Spanish. The interviews were tape-recorded, transcribed, and translated into English. A synthesized list of descriptive expressions emerged with seven themes. These were analyzed and a structural definition of the lived experience of health was formulated and compared to the concept of health as described by Pender (1982). Understanding the meaning of health among older Guatemalan women may influence policies, practice processes, and accessibility of health care while expanding nursing's body of knowledge. Specific recommendations to improve older Guatemalan women's access to health care were presented.