In the period of old age, which is one of the important periods of life, positive psychology practices will affect the well-being of the elderly and can improve the quality of life. Prof. Dr. Remziye Keskin and Zeynep Gümüş draw attention to the need to popularize practices in this field.
All over the world, October 1 is commemorated as World Elderly Day in order to raise awareness about aging and elderly health issues in parallel with the rate of increase in the elderly population.
Üsküdar University SHMYO Assistant Director Dr. Faculty Member Remziye Keskin stated that according to the chronological classification of the World Health Organization (WHO), old age covers the period of life at the age of 65 and over and said, "With the increase in the speed of scientific developments, the average human life span is increasing and the elderly population is gradually increasing."
Health and social problems increase in old age
Prof. Dr. Remziye Keskin said, "Although the increase in the average age of the society means an increase in human life span, it also means that health and social problems will increase due to the decrease in physiological capacity, loss of social roles and changes in individuals' emotions, perceptions and behaviors. The changes that come with aging trigger each other, especially psychological aging accelerates and deepens these changes."
Positive Psychology increases well-being
Stating that the field of positive psychology can bring solutions to possible problems that may arise in old age, Dr. Faculty Member Remziye Keskin said, "Positive Psychology can be defined as a branch of science that focuses on people's strengths and virtues, aims to contribute to their lives in a more satisfying and quality way and to contribute to their personal development. This definition does not mean that Positive Psychology ignores the negative aspects of life. On the contrary, Positive Psychology focuses on how to use one's strengths to cope with one's weaknesses. It aims to adapt people to a more positive and realistic perspective. Studies have reported that Positive Psychology-oriented practices increase individuals' psychological well-being, life satisfaction and positive affect."
It can contribute to improving quality of life
Emphasizing that social aging, which comes with the demographic transformation in the world, is an important issue that health and social policies focus on, Prof. Dr. Remziye Keskin said, "Today, the increasing elderly population and the social change that has developed accordingly have brought about a new social structuring. We believe that Positive Psychology will support this social structuring and contribute to improving the quality of life of elderly individuals."
Positive Aging Project yielded positive results
Üsküdar University Vocational School of Health Services, Head of Elderly Care Services Program Lecturer. Lecturer Zeynep Gümüş stated that in order to support the aging period with Positive Psychology teachings, they implemented the Positive Aging project in partnership with Darülaceze as a university. Gümüş gave the following information about the project, which they received positive results:
"It is thought that a society with the perspective of Positive Psychology can be happier. Based on this idea, we developed the "Positive Aging" project in partnership with Üsküdar University and Hospice in order to support the old age period, which comes with specific and natural problems, with the teachings of Positive Psychology. Within the scope of this project; We carried out face-to-face, interactive trainings and practices covering the teachings of Positive Psychology with 16 Hospice residents aged 65 and over, one day a week, two sessions and 45 minutes each session for a total of five weeks. By using the teachings of Positive Psychology, our project aimed to raise awareness of elderly individuals, to direct them to be more socially active, to ensure that the participants improve their positive self-perception, life satisfaction, effective communication and stress coping skills, and to draw the attention of the society to the issue. At the end of our Positive Aging event, we saw that the emotional states of our participants changed positively, they became more social and communicated more effectively, as expected."