SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ELDERLY QUALITY OF LIFE IN THE CONTEXT OF ACTIVE AGEING DEBATES. CASE STUDY: IAȘI COUNTY

Authors

  • Alexandru-Cosmin APOSTOL PhD, Department of Sociology and Social Work, Faculty of Philosophy and Social-Political Sciences, “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iași, Carol I 11, 700506, Iași, Romania

Keywords:

elderly, ageing, active ageing, social participation, quality of life

Abstract

Nowadays, population ageing has become a global phenomenon and Romania is also facing it. In this context, international organizations, such as United Nations or World Health Organization, are paying more attention to public policies that support an increased social participation among the elderly, taking as premise that engaging in various activities could improve third age people`s quality of life. Starting from defining a series of concepts such as active ageing, social participation or quality of life, I made a brief secondary statis-tical analysis, from a demographic perspective, based on Eurostat projections regarding the evolution of Romanian population. Furthermore, I presented some of the results of an empirical approach conducted in Iași County, in 2015, on a sample of 710 people, over 65 years. The sociological study was funded by EEA Grants 2009-2014, the NGO Fund in Romania, as part of the project “Elderly home care”, implemented by St. Damian Associa-tion, Iași City. The aim of the research was to identify the main social needs and issues experienced by the elderly. Thus, the main problems identified are related to health status, poor financial situation and the presence of strong loneliness and social useless feelings.

References

Boudiny, K. (2013). Active Ageing: From Empty Rhetoric to Effective Policy Tool. Ageing & Society, 33(6), 1077-1098.

Bucur, V. and Maciovan, A. (2003). Probleme ale vârstei a treia [Third Age Issues]. In: Neamțu G. (coord), Tratat de asistență socială [Social Work Treaty]. Editura Polirom, Iași, 907-956.

Chirilă, G. (coord.). (2014). Anuarul statistic al Județului Iași 2014 [Statistical Yearbook of Iași County], Institutul Național de Statistică. Direcția Județeană de Statistică Iași, Editura Alfa, Iași.

European Union (2012). The EU Contribution to Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. Available at:

http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=738&langId=en&pubId=6920&visible=1 [10.11.2017].

Eurostat (2017). Population on 1st January by age, sex and type of projection. Database. Available at:

http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?dataset=proj_15npms&lang=en [10.11.2017].

Gerino E. , Marino E. , Brustia P., Lyrakosb, D.G., Rollé L. (2015). Quality Of Life In The Third Age: A Research On Risk And Protective Factors. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 187, 217-222.

Lawton, M.P. Birren, J., Lubben, J., Rowe, J., Detchman, D. (1991). A multidimensional view of quality of life in frail elders, The Concept and Measurement of Quality of Life in the Frail Elderly. CA Academic Press, San Diego, 3-27.

National Institute of Statistics. Tempo-online database. Link:

http://statistici.insse.ro/shop/ [20.10.2017]

National Institute of Statistics (2016). 51 mii pensionari mai puțini comparativ cu anul precedent. Comunicat de presă [51 thousand less pensioners compared to last year. Press release]. Available at: http://www.insse.ro/cms/sites/default/files/com_presa/com_pdf/pensii_2015r.pdf [22.10.2017].

Netedu A. (2016). Demografie și sociologia populațiilor. Elemente teoretice și practice [Demography and sociology of population. Theoretical and empirical perspectives]. Editura Universității “Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, Iași.

Netedu A. (2017). Trends in Demographic Evolution of Romania in the Beginning 21st Century. In: Maturo A., Hošková-Mayerová Š., Soitu DT., Kacprzyk J. (Eds.), Recent Trends in Social Systems: Quantitative Theories and Quantitative Models. Studies in Systems, Decision and Control, vol 66. Springer International Publishing Switzerland, 295-302.

Netuveli, G. and Blane D. (2008). Quality of life in older ages, British Medical Bulletin. 85(1), 113-126.

Rebeleanu, A. and Șoitu, D. (2015). Intergenerational Solidarity In Romanian Social and Health Care Policies. Scientific Annals Of The “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University, Iaşi. New Series Sociology And Social Work Section, 5(1), 33-49.

European Comission (2010). Sărăcia și excluziunea în rândul cetățenilor vârstnici din UE. Studiu calitativ [Poverty and Exclusion among EU Elderly Citizens. Qualitative Study]. Realizat de TNS Qual+ la solicitarea Parlamentului European. Available at:

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/pdf/eurobarometre/2011/2011_04_01/consensus_conference_poverty_report_ro.pdf [05.11.2017].

European Comission (2012). Special Eurobarometer 378. Active ageing report. Conducted by TNS Opinion & Social at the request of Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion. Survey co-ordinated by Directorate-General Communication. Available at:

http://ec.europa.eu/commfrontoffice/publicopinion/archives/ebs/ebs_378_en.pdf [07.11.2017].

Șoitu, D. (2015). Social Vulnerabilities and Ageing. Scientific Annals Of The “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University, Iaşi. New Series Sociology And Social Work Section, 8(2), 73-82.

United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2017). World Population Ageing 2017 - Highlights (ST/ESA/SER.A/397). Available at: http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/publications/pdf/ageing/WPA2015_Report.pdf [04.11.2017]

Walker, A. (2002). A Strategy for Active Ageing. International Social Security Review. 55(1), 121–139.

World Bank (2014). Viață lungă, activă și în forță. Promovarea îmbătrânirii active în România [Long, active and forceful life. Promoting active ageing in Romania]. Available at:

http://www.mmuncii.ro/j33/images/Documente/Familie/DGAS/IA-RO/Raport_Active_ Aging_RO.pdf [25.10.2017]

World Health Organization (2002). Active Ageing. A Policy Framework. Available at:

http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/67215/1/WHO_NMH_NPH_02.8.pdf [27.10.2017].

World Health Organization. (2015). World report on ageing and health. Geneva. Available at:

http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/186463/1/9789240694811_eng.pdf [29.10.2017].

Zaidi, A., Gasior, K., Hofmarcher, M.M., Lelkes, O., Marin, B., Rodrigues, R. (2013). Active Ageing Index 2012. Concept, Methodology, and Final Results, Research Memo-randum, Methodology Report, European Centre Vienna. Available at:

http://www.euro.centre.org/data/1453740620_84975.pdf [29.10.2017].

Zaidi, A., Gasior, K., Zolyomi, E., Schmidt, A., Rodrigues, R., Marin, B. (2017). Measuring active and healthy ageing in Europe. Journal of European Social Policy, 27(2), 138-157.

Additional Files