Experiences of Thai Rural Women Sustaining Self-Care in Midlife: A Phenomenological Study

With having responsibility for many competing demands in work and homelife, middle aged women often do not have time or energy for important self-care. The purpose of this study was to investigate ways to sustain self-care from the experience of Thai middle-aged women living in the community. This study employed a hermeneutic phenomenological approach and the philosophy of the sufficiency economy to understand the experiences of 20 Thai middle-aged women living in a central agricultural community. Data collection were conducted between 2014 and 2015 through in-depth, recorded interviews, field notes, and participant observation. All interviews were transcribed verbatim and data were analyzed using hermeneutic analysis. The findings showed ways to sustaining self-care of Thai middle-aged women consisting of 7 themes: 1) having determination, 2) having a model, 3) developing a leader, 4) continuing to be involved with self-care activities, 5) setting up rules, 6) building self-care culture, and 7) developing a self-care group/network. The findings of this study suggest that in order to achieve self-care sustainability women should get to know themselves, have intention and belief, together with having power of community and support. Therefore, having self-care constantly will help prevent disease and promote healthy in women's lives. Nurses can play an active role in motivating and supporting women to attain and maintain self-care behaviours which result in having better health and good quality of life.