Time‐use in later life

This paper seeks to demonstrate the significance of the time budget methodology for nursing as a means of exploring the use of time in later life and its relation to health and well-being. With increasing concern for quality of life issues, the use of time and the proportion of time that is allocated to specific domains of life become important life-style decisions that merit both personal concern and professional inquiry. The paper begins with a review of the time budget methodology and the research employing the time budget methodology dating back to the 1960s. It continues with a description of how people allocate and use their time in later life as revealed by these studies, and concludes with the significance of this method of inquiry for nursing.