Myanmar's 2021 military coup has created unprecedented disruption for older adults, intersecting political instability with the vulnerabilities of aging. This qualitative study explores how older adults in Myanmar understand healthy aging and navigate the challenges of maintaining health and wellbeing amid ongoing crisis. Through semi-structured interviews with 26 retirees across urban and rural settings, we examined how prolonged upheaval shapes their beliefs about aging well and their lived experiences in later life. Using inductive thematic analysis, we identified how participants conceptualized healthy aging and the barriers they encountered. Three interrelated themes emerged that illuminate the multidimensional impact of crisis on aging experiences. The first theme, undermined psychological wellbeing, captured how pervasive fear, anxiety, and uncertainty eroded participants' sense of inner peace and mental stability, which they regarded as essential to aging well. The second theme, threatened economic and physical security, reflected how resource scarcity, healthcare collapse, and financial instability simultaneously compromised participants' ability to meet basic needs and maintain bodily health. The third theme, disrupted social roles and family bonds, encompassed participants' profound distress over their inability to fulfill valued caregiving responsibilities, support younger generations, or maintain the dignified family positions they associated with meaningful aging. These findings suggest that older adults experience healthy aging in crisis contexts as fundamentally unattainable, characterized by systematic erosion across psychological, material, and relational domains. This study offers important insights into how socio-political upheaval transforms the lived reality of aging in conflict-affected settings.

Authors:
Khin Zaw Aung, International Executive School, France
Htet Phyo Aung, International Executive School, France
Roy Naipaul, International Executive School, France

About the Presenter(s)
Dr Jimmy Naipaul, PhD.
Head of Academic and Institutional Research
International Executive School
Strasbourg, France.

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