Introduction

My doctoral dissertation was a study of the factors contributing to psychological and physical wellbeing in older adults. Data were collected via a variety of means, including a structured interview. The subjects were residents in independent living settings, some catering to the general public and some designed especially for seniors. As a woman in her late twenties, I was, in some ways, like a cultural anthropologist, spending hours with people many years ahead of me in life who had lived through a range of experiences from mundane to fascinating, some of which I would ultimately know well and others I could only imagine.