| Female baby boomers in the United States are the largest population of women in this country to face old age. The purpose of the phenomenological qualitative study was to illuminate specific thoughts, opinions, and lived experiences related to planning for housing, healthcare and biopsychosocial needs as female baby boomers age. Interviews of 20 baby boomer women born between 1947 and 1964 who were living in the Las Vegas, Nevada area revealed four emerging themes to describe the needs and expectations of the aging female baby boomer population. The emerging themes were resilience, successful aging, healthcare concerns and alternative housing. Baby boomer women participants are enjoying the mid-life stage of their lives, are looking forward to the future, and have developed plans to allow their senior years to be comfortable. The themes offer information to leaders in the housing and healthcare industries and to policy makers that may assist in planning for the future elderly female population. The findings of the study refute assumptions made about baby boomer women including fear of aging, lack of financial planning, and wanting traditional elderly housing arrangements (Hartman-Stein & Potkanowicz, 2003; Hodge, 2005; National Institutes of Health [NIH], 2006). Additional quantitative and qualitative studies should be employed to validate the findings of this sample and further articulate the expectations of aging baby boomer women. |
