A phenomenological study on the meaning of presence of elderly participants in an exercise-music program

Objective: The reason why it is important to look at the benefits of exercise-music experience perceived by the elderly is that the satisfaction of life in old age is a meaningful reflection of the subjective perception of the life of the elderly. This is because it must be understood as the center. Design: A qualitative study. Methods: Participants are senior citizens attending senior citizens’ college located in Eumseong city. Those who have taken an exercise-music song program for at least one semester served as the participants. Individual interviews were conducted by select-ing 10 people through purposeful sampling. The collected data were analyzed by applying Colaizzi’s method among phenomenological methods. The exercise-music program was conducted for 12 weeks, for a total of 50 minutes for each time (10 minutes for introduction, 35 minutes for music, 5 minutes for finishing). Results: As a result of the study, the experience of the exercise-music program was derived into 6 categories and 13 subjects. These 6 main categories are ‘Changes from the developmental crisis’, ‘Freedom from the confines of others’, ‘Positive emotions found through songs’, ‘Feeling of peer and fellowship relationships’, ‘Changes in self-awareness’, It appeared as a ‘Change in the way of life’. Conclusions: In conclusion, the experience of the exercise-music program brought about a positive changes in life of doing one’s best by improving confidence and confirming presence. Therefore, this study suggests activation of senior college programs to find a sense of presence for each level by using exercise-music programs with good accessibility.