Search

Search Results

• Satisfaction with the implementation of developmental tasks in the course of life and the sense of well-being in late adulthood

  31-33

  Hanna Liberska

  Views:

  73

  Introduction
  The subject of the sense of psychological well-being in people in late adulthood and its determinants has been of great interest for several dozen years among researchers and broad social groups, including people of senior age.
  Aims
  The aim of the presented research was to explain the relationship between coping with life challenges, which are developmental tasks culturally assigned to successive periods of adult life, and the sense of well-being in the last period of life. The study also drew attention to the importance of selected socio-demographic variables for the sense of well-being of people in late adulthood, namely gender, age, level of education, family situation and material (financial) condition. In line with the positive psychology approach, these factors were expected to be of limited importance for the sense of well-being.
  Methodology
  155 people aged over 65 (late adulthood) took part in the study, 53% of whom were men and 47% of women. The author's questionnaire was used to examine satisfaction with the implementation of developmental tasks (Liberska, 2019), the Mental Wellbeing Questionnaire (L.Wojciechowska, 2008) and a questionnaire collecting basic sociodemographic data. The analysis of the research results showed significant relationships between the implementation of developmental tasks and the sense of well-being. Age of the respondents did not differentiate the sense of well-being.
  Conclusion
  People's sense of well-being in late adulthood is related to coping with developmental tasks in adult life and the current family and economic situation.
  1. the results of the statistical analysis did not show statistically significant differences between men and women in the level of psychological well-being: t (152) = -0,63, p = 0,52 (women – M = 87,25, SD = 12,73; men – M = 88,52, SD = 12).
  2. people with higher education had a higher level of the general indicator of the sense of well-being than people with secondary (Z=-2.04, p=0.041), vocational (Z=-3.52, p=0.001) and primary education (Z=-3.22, p=0.01)
  3. financial status differentiates the sense of well-being of people in late adulthood: people with good economic status have a higher sense of well-being than people with average status (Z = -3.23, p = 0.001) and below average (Z = -2.03; p = 0.043)
  4. the results of the statistical analysis showed that people with different marital status differ in the level of mental well-being: married people in late adulthood have a significantly higher level of mental well-being than widowed people (Z=-3.18, p=0.001).
  5. among the six dimensions that create mental well-being, the highest value was obtained on the self-acceptance subscale; ANOVA shows significant differences between the subscales of the sense of well-being; F= 7829,05; p< 0,001; η2=0,99).
  Generally, this result confirms the importance of self-acceptance for the general psychosocial condition of a person (see Ryff, 1989).
  References:
  Liberska, H. (2019). Żródła satysfakcji z życia w starości. W: M.Kielar-Turska (red.), Siła umysłu w starości. Starość: jak ją widzi psychologia (s. 537-552). Kraków: Akademia Ignatianum.
  Ryff, C. D. (1989). Happiness Is Everything or Is It? Explorations on the Meaning of Psychological Wellbeing. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57, 1069-1081; http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.57.6.1069
  Wojciechowska, L. (2008). Style starzenia się a subiektywny dobrostan kobiet w późnej dorosłości, studiujących na uniwersytecie trzeciego wieku. Polskie Forum Psychologiczne, 2, 106- 123.

• Social security and safety of older adults in Poland

  9-11

  Bogusława Urbaniak

  Views:

  94

  Poland’ population will be ageing at a fast rate in the coming decades. It is projected that in 2070 the Polish ratio between people aged 65 and over and those aged 15-64 years will be 62.6, the highest among EU-27 countries. Population ageing appeared in the public debate in Poland as a separate subject in the 1990s, following a negative natural population increase and the looming impact of the massive withdrawal of baby boomers from the labour market on the pension system. One of the reasons for older persons’ growing interest in retirement was pension system reforms planned by successive governments.

  The announcement of the year 2012 as the European Year for Active Ageing and Solidarity Between Generations (decision no. 940/2011/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 September 2011) contributed in Poland to the emergence of a senior policy from a social policy and initiated major legislative, institutional, and organisational changes at the national, regional and local levels of government. It also inspired the redefinition of measures used hitherto in line with the evolution in the perception of older people from social care recipients to active members of their communities entitled to education and economic, social, civic and political activity. In 2013, the Senior Policy Council was established as a consultative and advisory body to the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, and then similar councils supporting regional and local authorities were organised.

  In order to encourage greater activity among seniors, a special governmental programme was created in December 2013, which grants funds on a competitive basis to projects concerning social activities, education, and intergenerational cooperation submitted by informal and formal groups of seniors.

  The national government’s key documents on senior policy, one for the period from 2014 to 2020 and the other spanning the years until 2030, are Resolution 238 of 24 Dec. 2013 by the Board of Ministers on the Adoption of Long-term Senior Policy in Poland for the Years 2015-2020 and Resolution 161 of 28 Oct. 2018 by the Board of Ministers on the adoption of Social Policy Towards the Older Persons 2030. Security-Participation-Solidarity. In 2015, the Polish Parliament passed the elderly people act, which requires institutions in charge of the well-being of older persons to monitor and report on their situation. The reports submitted by the institutions are used by the Ministry of Labour to compile and present an annual evaluation of the status of the older population in Poland.

  The regional governments’ senior policy is reflected in their social policy strategies. The strategies’ operational goals started to address needs specific to older people since 2002, focusing in particular on improving their quality of life, developing round-the-clock care services, at-home care services, and rehabilitation services, and on reducing social exclusion and marginalization of seniors.

  Social security and the safety of older adults are progressively improving in Poland, but the greatest progress has been made in the area of active ageing. Social care services for the elderly still require improvement, because the predominant family care model is inefficient in many ways due to:

  • limited financing of care services by public institutions,
  • the growing proportion of single elderly persons,
  • the increasing number of people aged 85+ (the so-called double population ageing),
  • social insurance disregarding long-term care to an elderly family member as an insurable risk,
  • a lack of legislation allowing employed people to seek a long-term leave to give care to an older family member,
  • the informal expectation that women who retire at the age of 60 years will take care of the oldest family members.

  While neither the scale nor the quality of home care services given to older persons is regularly surveyed in Poland, it can be presumed that the scale of care services is insufficient and that they excessively burden families with a member in need of care. Between 2010 and 2018, the number of persons aged 65+ increased in Poland by over 1.5 million, the number of the users of attendance services and specialised attendance services by 29,000 (from 99,000 to 128,000), and the number of residences in homes and facilities providing assistance to aged persons by 7,000 (from 20,000 to 27,100.)