Healthy Aging Research
Open Access

Department of Caring Science, Work Life and Social Welfare, University of Boras, Sweden

Biography

I have worked at the University of Borås since 1999 and have held many different roles. I have been a doctoral student and received my doctorate in 2005; thereafter, I have been an instructor, researcher, and manager.
Since 2007, I have had primarily management roles. Initially, I was a Director of Graduate Studies and then become a Department Head. I have been Dean of the Faculty of Caring Science, Work Life and Social Welfare since 2012. To lead a successful and dynamic organisation is very challenging and hugely stimulating!

Publications

• Original Research Article   
  The meaning of growing old: A lifeworld hermeneutic study on existential matters during the third age of life
  Author(s): Lina Palmér*, Maria Nyström, Gunilla Carlsson, Catharina Gillsjö, Irene Eriksson and Ann-Charlotte Dalheim-Englund
  
  This study investigates existential matters in the third age of life, which encompasses the years after retirement and ends when extensive support needs emerge in the fourth age. As the theoretical starting point in a lifeworld hermeneutic approach, 18 healthy older adults were interviewed about what it means for them to grow old. The interviews were interpreted according to Gadamer’s principles of openness and Ricoeur’s proposal to provide suggestions on how meaning can be explained. The findings are presented in three interpreted themes: Feeling free, Becoming vulnerable, and Existing in closeness to death. The themes are further interpreted, and a comprehensive understanding is reached with theoretical support from Jean-Paul Sartre’s idea of factuality and project. The meaning of growing old is discussed in terms of positive factors, such as healthy aging, transit.. View More»
  DOI: 10.35248/har.2019.8.8

  Abstract PDF