Older homebound women's perceived risk of being unable to reach help quickly: influence of situations involving age-peers.

The purpose of this facet of a longitudinal descriptive phenomenological study of the experience of reaching help quickly for older homebound women was to explore the personal-social context (life-world) of situations when age-peers had needed to reach help quickly (RHQ). Twenty-five women aged 85-95 (13 subscribers to a personal emergency response system and 12 non-subscribers) reported 80 peer situations. Life-world was characterized by sharing with peers the risk of being unable to RHQ. Knowledge of peer situations had varying degrees of influence on participants' decisions to adopt and use RHQ devices. Findings support the need for healthcare professionals to explore the influences of age-peer RHQ situations upon adoption and use of devices to RHQ by older homebound women.