Resumen de Older homebound women's perceived risk of being unable to reach help quickly: Influence of situations involving age-peers

Eileen Porter, Sue Lasiter

• The purpose of this facet of a longitudinal descriptive phenomenological study of the experience of reaching help quickly for older homebound women was to explore the personal�social context (life-world) of situations when age-peers had needed to reach help quickly (RHQ). Twenty- ?ve women aged 85�95 (13 subscribers to a personal emergency response system and 12 non-subscribers) reported 80 peer situations. Life-world was characterized by sharing with peers the risk of being unable to RHQ. Knowledge of peer situations had varying degrees of in?uence on participants� decisions to adopt and use RHQ devices. Findings support the need for healthcare professionals to explore the in?uences of age-peer RHQ situations upon adoption and use of devices to RHQ by older homebound women.