OLDER WOMEN AND THEIR IMAGES OF HEALTH - A REPLICATION STUDY

Older women view themselves as healthy despite the fact that they suff er from chronic illnesses and some functional limitations. The study p resented in this article replicates the work of Woods and associates b y asking, ''What does being healthy mean to you?'' to a sample of 10 o lder women aged 70 to 91 years. The images presented by older women we re remarkably consistent with the images presented by the younger coho rt. As found in the original Woods et al study, there were nine dimens ions that were reflective of the eudaemonistic model of health.