Older persons’ right to exercise self-determination in daily life is supported by several laws. Research shows that older persons’ self-determination is not fully respected within the healthcare sector. In order to enable and enhance older persons’ self-determination, extensive knowledge of older persons’ self-determination is needed. The aim of this study was to explore experiences of self-determination when developing dependence in daily activities among community-dwelling persons 80 years and older. Qualitative interviews were performed in accordance with a grounded theory method, with 11 persons aged 84–95 years who were beginning to develop dependence in daily activities. The data analysis revealed the core category, “Self-determination - shifting between self-governing and being governed”. The core category comprised three categories: “Struggling against the aging body”, “Decision-making is relational”, and “Guarding one’s own independence”. Self-determination in daily activities was related to a shifting, which was two-fold, and varied between self-governing and being governed by the aging body, or by others. The findings imply a need to adopt a person-centered approach where the older persons’ own preferences and needs are in focus, in order to enhance their possibilities to exercise self-determination.

In research and healthcare it is important to measure older persons’ self-determination in order to improve their possibilities to decide for themselves in daily life. The questionnaire Impact on Participation and Autonomy (IPA) assesses self-determination, but is not constructed for older persons. The aim of this study was to examine the validity and reliability of the IPA-S questionnaire for persons aged 70 years and older. The study was performed in two steps; first a validity test of the Swedish version of the questionnaire, IPA-S, followed by a reliability test-retest of an adjusted version. The validity was tested with focus groups and individual interviews on persons aged 77-88 years, and the reliability on persons aged 70-99 years. The validity test result showed that IPA-S is valid for older persons but it was too extensive and the phrasing of the items needed adjustments. The reliability test-retest on the adjusted questionnaire, IPA-Older persons (IPA-O), showed that 15 of 22 items had high agreement. IPA-O can be used to measure older persons’ self-determination in their care and rehabilitation.

Comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) practices multidimensional, interdisciplinary, and diagnostic processes as a means to identify care needs, plan care, and improve outcomes of frail older people. Conventional content analysis was used to analyze frail older people’s experiences of receiving CGA. Through a secondary analysis, interviews and transcripts were revisited in an attempt to discover the meaning behind the participants’ implied, ambiguous, and verbalized thoughts that were not illuminated in the primary study. Feeling “respected as a person” is the phenomenon participants described on a CGA acute geriatric ward, achieved by having a reciprocal relationship with the ward staff, enabling their participation in decisions when engaged in communication and understanding. However, when a person was too ill to participate, then care was person-supportive care. CGA, when delivered by staff practicing person-centered care, can keep the frail older person in focus despite them being a patient. If a person-centered care approach does not work because the person is too ill, then person-supportive care is delivered. However, when staff and/or organizational practices do not implement a person-centered care approach, this can hinder patients feeling “respected as a person”.

Exercising self-determination in daily life is highly valued by older people. However, being in the hands of other people may challenge the older people’s possibilities to exercise self-determination in their daily life. Among frail older people living in Sweden, risk for depression is highly predominant. There is a knowledge gap regarding if, and how having a risk of depression affects older people’s self-determination. The objective was, therefore, to explore if, and in that case how, frail older people’s self-determination is affected by the risk of depression. In this cross-sectional, secondary data analysis, with 161 communitydwelling frail older people, simple logistic regression models were performed to explore the association between self-determination, the risk of depression and demographic variables. The findings showed that risk for depression and reduced self-determination were significantly associated in the dimensions: use of time (P=0.020), social relationship (P=0.003), help and support others (P=0.033), and the overall self-determination item (P=0.000). Risk for depression significantly affected self-determination in use of time (OR=3.04, P=0.014), social relationship (OR=2.53, P=0.011), and overall self-determination (OR=6.17, P=0.000). This point out an increased need of strengthening healthcare professionals’ perspectives, and attitudes towards a self-determined, friendly, and person-centred dialogue.