Ageing and Old Age as a Task – Health, Activation, Development, Integration Edited by Agata Chabior Ageing and Old Age as a Task – Health, Activation, Development, Integration Activation, Development, – Health, Task Age as a Old Ageing and Agnieszka Szplit Ageing and Old Age as a Task – Health, Activation, Development, Integration Ageing and Old Age as a Task – Health, Activation, Development, Integration EDITED BY Agata Chabior Agnieszka Szplit KRAKÓW 2014 © Copyright by Authors Kraków 2014 ISBN 978-83-65148-01-8 Review: Dr hab. prof. UJK Elżbieta Trafiałek Prof. Soledad Quero Proofreading: Elżbieta Chudoba Cover design: Mateusz Bobkiewicz Typesetting: LIBRON Praca dofinansowana ze środków Uniwersytetu Jana Kochanowskiego w Kielcach Wydawnictwo LIBRON – Filip Lohner al. Daszyńskiego 21/13 31-537 Kraków tel. 12 628 05 12 e-mail: offi[email protected] www.libron.pl Contents Introduction 7 CHAPTER I Health and quality of life in old age 13 Agata Jopkiewicz, Magdalena Lelonek Gerontopedagogical dimension of physical activity in the prevention of cognitive regression in the elderly 15 Agnieszka Przychodni Menopause changeability as a biological and social phenomenon 23 Grażyna Czerwiak, Monika Szpringer, Marian Florczyk Malnutrition as a clinical problem of people advanced in years 35 Justyna Palacz Physical activity as a form of activation of seniors 43 Hanna Wiśniewska-Śliwińska Assessment of health situation of senior citizens – based on a study carried out in the region of Silesia 53 CHAPTER II Socio-cultural dimension of ageing and old age 63 Marta Wilk The elderly as victims of crime in the public space as well as the aspects of prevention of this phenomenon 65 Kazimierz Kopczyński, Magdalena Kaczmarek Suicide prevention in old age 77 Izabela Gomółka-Walaszek Late adulthood and anxiety 93 Adam Perz Pastoral care of the elderly 109 CHAPTER III Activeness, activation and support of the elderly 127 Elżbieta Woźnicka The social situation and activity of the elderly in the countryside 129 Dorota Rynkowska, Katarzyna Błaszczuk Integration of senior citizens for social activity 157 Ryszard Majer Activation of the elderly in rural environment: barriers and possibilities 175 Anna Stawecka Artistic creativity and art therapy as a form of activation of senior citizens 191 Małgorzata Porąbaniec Family nursing house as the new institution implementing outreach activities for the elderly and disabled 203 CHAPTER IV Activation through education – examples of good practices 215 Aleksandra Lubczyńska Libraries and senior members – with the use of an example of the Regional Public Library in Kielce 217 Joanna Górna Encouraging social life of seniors – a practical example as demonstrated by The University of the Third Age at the Jan Długosz University in Częstochowa 229 Renata Brzezińska Educational requirements of seniors. From the research upon the activity of the Cuiavian – Dobrzyński University of the Third Age in Włocławek 237 Katarzyna Jas The role of the Cieszyn University of the Third Age and the Daily Senior Activity Centre in activating persons at the age of late adulthood 255 Iwona Mandrzejewska-Smól Determinants and dimensions of intellectual activity of the elderly in the context of problems in adjustment to old age 267 Selected bibliography 279 Biographies 289 Introduction Polish society is gradually entering the phase of ageing which has a number of eco- nomic and social consequences as well as those which regard the family and the in- dividual. e demographic statistics presented by GUS show that in 2035 the popu- lation of Poland will decrease by 2 million people and the proportion of people in post-working age will be 23.4 percent. e problems ensuing from the phe- nomenon of demographically ageing societies, which are caused by extending life expectancy and low fertility rate, are analysed from micro- (household and family) and macro- (society, economy and culture) perspectives. ese profound changes in the social structure require an in-depth analysis and research which can later become the foundation of long-term socio-economic plans and policies. e demographic changes in question, aside from the above mentioned consequences, can provoke questions about the quality of life in old age and, in more detail, the criteria and conditions involved in it. e quality of life in old age is strongly linked to activeness which is the condition and out- come of meaningful ageing. Observing social life and the changes taking place in this eld, especially taking into consideration the situation of the elderly and the most recent scientic research, brings to our attention a number of fac- tors conditioning and inuencing the quality of life in old age. ese include: the degree of functional mobility of the elderly dictated by their state of health and age, feeling safe in their community which is dependent on their past and present situation in family and society and includes economic and cultural stability, the number of local and external initiatives aimed at activating senior citizens socially. Other factors involve their own activity in all areas of life, which can include various dimensions of ageing and old age. 7 INTRODUCTION e concept of meaningful ageing goes beyond the goal of preventing diseases among the elderly. It pursues the objective of activating and facilitating the life of this social group in its physical, psychological, social and cultural aspect. It is generally believed that high level of activity in old age and the optimal model of support in dierent elds of life allows the elderly to achieve their priorities: being independent and self-sucient as long as possible which inuences their opinion on their quality of life. is means that being active is the core element of the model of meaningful ageing. e demographic changes which underlie all discussion have recently inu- enced the social idea of “old age” and have presented new traits and behaviours of the contemporary elderly, which were unseen ten or twenty years ago. Today’s elderly people conserve their energy and high level of mobility for many years aer they retire and thanks to that they can choose to play their social roles for longer. e contemporary senior citizen, by and large, is characterized by high education, good health, satisfactory family and nancial conditions which all produce benecial eects when they retire and engage in new forms of activity, especially the intellectual and cultural one, but also the social one, which constitute sort of counterbalance for the omnipresent reminders of their nearing decrepitude and oppressive conditions of life. Ageing, therefore, is a task and time for development which, certain condi- tions met, is possible and necessary in order to allow the generation of the elder- ly to realize their life goals and be active at the highest level possible at the same time meeting the demands of the contemporary world. e title of this publication, Ageing and old age as a task – health, activation, development, integration, reects the premises and dictates the order of chap- ters and articles. Presented texts are mainly praxeological and in major part consist of the au- thors’ studies and research. e remainder are theoretical inquiries built around recent scientic ndings. ey are all bound together by the nal chapter which includes the description of good practices in the eld of activating senior citizens. Meaningful aging is a new approach in thinking about ageing which stresses the tasks and op- portunities of old age and individual roles which play crucial roles in one’s own perspective on ageing. e key issue worth focusing on in this new approach is the skill the person might have in focusing on action, challenge and achievement rather than on passive avoidance of life problems, suering from anxiety, pain, disability and possible limitations. e idea of meaningful ageing allows for a new perspective on old problems and stereotypes regarding ageing. Hill R.D., (2005), Pozytywne starzenie się. Młodzi duchem w jesieni życia, Laurum, Warszawa. 8 INTRODUCTION e object of the authors’ inquiries were the issues associated with social gerontology. eir aim was to recognise or describe the spectrum of social reality already known to us which can contribute to meaningful and active ageing, which both constitute the elderly’s quality of life. e rst chapter is devoted to the issues of health, its assessment and its inuence on activities undertaken by senior citizens. In their article Geronto- pedagogical dimension of physical activity in the prevention of cognitive regression in the elderly Agata Jopkiewicz and Magdalena Lelonek review the research proving that physical activity, also in people older than 65, can help maintain, if not improve, the cognitive functions of the brain at the same time decreasing the risk of neurological and geriatric diseases typical for this age. In Menopause changeability as a biological and social phenomenon Agnieszka Przychodni at- tempts to describe the course of the menopause in the context of selected health and lifestyle behaviours. She indicates to the great importance of environment and the diversity and changeability of socio-economic factors which condition women’s quality of life. Meanwhile, she also presents that in order to mitigate possible negative eects of the menopause it is important to be highly active physically and lead a healthy lifestyle. e article by Grażyna Czerwiak, Monika Szpringer and Marian Florczyk, Malnutrition as a clinical problem of people advanced in years, is research analysing the results of a pilot study conducted in the area of Kielce, Poland. e research results helped identify the factors which have a major negative impact on the diet of the elderly and allowed for proposing a prevention program regarding the eating habits of elderly people. Justyna Palacz’s Physical activity as a form of activation of seniors shows that physical activity and tness signicantly inuence the level of satisfaction derived from being and elderly person and are crucial components of living independently.