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Abstract
Objective
The way older adults navigate their healthcare is critical to supporting positive health outcomes. However, navigating healthcare with multimorbidity is typically disjointed due to complexities in treatment, management, and service provision. This study sought to examine how older patients navigate healthcare whilst living with multimorbidity.
Methods and Measures
Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with five older adults, aged 65 or older, living with multimorbidity in residential care in England. An Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis was undertaken.
Results
Overall, participants experienced navigating healthcare whilst living with multimorbidity as challenging. Group Experiential Themes included ‘Health knowledge and understanding’, ‘Relationships and expectations’ and ‘Navigating health care with a single lens’. Collectively these themes represented narratives involving how having limited understanding of health conditions, experiencing challenges in communication with health professionals, and receiving segmented care in a health care system driven by a single condition focus interfered with navigation.
Conclusion
These findings highlight experiences of older adults living with multimorbidity navigating healthcare and illustrate several ways older adults living with multimorbidity may be supported to navigate services with less challenges. The research also promotes the need for future research in this area.
Disclosure statement
The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.
Open data
The data generated during and/or analysed during the current study are not publicly available nor are they available on request due to ethical restrictions.
Publication ethics
This study was approved by the University of Gloucestershire Psychological Sciences Ethics Panel. Ethics reference number HPY_2122_04. All participants provided written informed consent.