Considering the growing number of older persons, ensuring the quality of life of them, as well as the social services designed for this population category, has become more and more important. Especially in the case of dependent older persons, social services are essential components, as they contribute to a better quality of life. The aim of this paper was to examine the perspectives of social services providers for older persons with respect to their role and the challenges encountered in ensuring the quality of life of older beneficiaries. In order to answer our objectives, we employed a qualitative methodology, using the focus group method to collect information from social services providers (both residential and home care). Multiple factors are related to a good quality of life in old age: some are related to individual characteristics, while others are related to the provision of services. The provision of quality social services that adequately respond to the needs of beneficiaries contributes to increasing the degree of independence and maintaining the physical and mental health of dependent older persons.

Population aging has led to an increased recognition of the problems encountered by older persons. As a consequence, the most recent years have been marked by a series of changes with regard to the organization and provision of social services for dependent older people. The aim of this article is to identify factors associated with the quality of life in old age, using a logistic regression applied to the data collected following a field survey among the beneficiaries of social services. The analysis revealed that men are more likely to appreciate that life does not make sense, compared to dependent elderly women. Age is also a significant factor that influences the quality of life: the older the people are, the more they tend to think in a positive manner about their life. Health, social participation and food are also important factors that influence the perception regarding the quality of life.

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In the context of population aging, we have witnessed an increased interest in studying the participation of older persons in cultural and sport activities. The aim of this paper is to identify the participation rate in cultural and sports activities among Romanian older adults and the sociodemographics/behavioral variables that correlate with the participation rate in cultural and sports activities. In order to answer our research questions, we employed a questionnaire-based survey, and we used a nationally representative sample. Results point to low participation in both cultural and sports activities. Gender, residence, education, income, degree of mobility, internet connection, and availability of financial resources are significant variables that correlate with the engagement of older people in cultural and sports activities. Our study could serve as a base for concrete policy measures in the field of health and social inclusion of older persons.

This paper presents an analysis of the characteristics of public policies for dependent elderly people in Germany, Austria, Italy, Hungary and Portugal. The countries were selected taking into account the expertise in this fi eld and the specifi cs of the socio-cultural context, so as to highlight the diff erent solutions applied in those countries to solve certain problems related to the care of the elderly. The analysis of policies for dependents takes into account, for each country, the following: coordination of social and long-term care services; the benefi ciaries and the minimum level of dependency for which it is granted, the procedure and criteria for assessing the dependency; the benefi ts provided (in kind and in cash); types of long-term care services providers. The analysis of this paper is based on information available in the database of the European Union-Mutual Information System on Social Protection which contains detailed and updated data on social protection systems in European countries, supplemented with information from studies, research reports conducted in within some projects fi nanced within the Framework Program 7 of the European Commission, such as ANCIEN, MOPACT, but also public data available on the websites of the public ministries responsible with the provision of social services, as well of long-term care services for the elderly. The paper is structered as follows: the fi rst part presents the characteristics