Living a daily life with self-awareness among older adults with mild cognitive impairment

The current study aimed to understand how older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) perceived their condition following diagnosis and to explain the process of coping with concomitant changes in their lives. Using theoretical sampling methods, in-depth interviews were conducted between August 2015 and September 2017 in 20 older adults with MCI; the collected data were analyzed using the constant comparative method. The core category was living a daily life with self-awareness. The four stages of daily life experience among participants were accepting their diagnosis, strengthening their volition, taking care of their health, and maintaining a daily life with self-awareness. After being diagnosed with MCI, participants were more attentive to behaviors in their daily lives. Participants accepted their diagnosis as well as changes to their lifestyles to avoid causing inconvenience to others.