While research suggests that partnering with care providers enhances seniors’
independence and health, little is known about how seniors actually experience partnering/non-partnering with in-home care providers. Phenomenology was used to explore eight seniors’ experiences o f partnering/non-partnering with in-home care providers in the promotion o f their health. Interpretive analysis o f audiotapes o f in-depth interviews revealed three themes which together captured seniors’ holistic experience of partnering/non partnering: (1) the psycho-social-cultural contextual attributes of partnering/non-partnering; (2) the process o f enacting partnering/non-partnering; and (3) the subjective experience o f partnering/non-partnering. Findings revealed partnering to
constitute relational health promotion, and non-partnering, the traditional expert approach of care. Insights into social and practice norms and attitudes as impediments to partnering, and desire for involvement, interdependence and relationship-building as facilitators of partnering, may enhance health promotion practice. These insights suggest the merit of evolving health promotion agendas beyond behavioural approaches to embrace partnering, thus relational health promotion, to optimize health as a resource for everyday living
