Education for physical, psychological and social health as an element of preventive gerontology based on the example of Universities of the Third Age

Abstract

The changes that take place in the modern world make it difficult, especially for elderly persons, to adapt to the constantly transforming environment. One of the most effective ways to prevent the marginalization of senior persons and enable their active inclusion in the structures of the society of the 21st century is using the lifelong learning opportunities available to "a person of the third age". Lifelong learning is offered by Universities of the Third Age (U3A). In Poland, the first U3A was founded, at the initiative of Professor Halina Szwarc in 1975 at the Centre of Post-Graduate Medical Education (CPGME) in Warsaw, one of its main goals being to include elderly persons in the lifelong learning system. This unit and other universities of the third age that followed, offer space for personal development and socializing and create appropriate conditions for elderly persons to participate in the social life on a regular basis. For more than 40 years, the U3As in Poland have offered programmes that meet the various needs of senior persons, with activities dedicated to broadening their knowledge, education, personal development, developing skills and interests, spending their free time actively and promoting a healthy lifestyle, thus contributing to preventive gerontology and health in the holistic meaning of the term. One of the factors that could affect the structure and implementation of U3A programmes is the evident feminisation of their students. Because of this, educational programmes and other activities offered to U3A students may be selected mainly to suit female interests, reducing the engagement of men to a minimum. Another possible challenge is ensuring the right team of lecturers.

Semilongitudinal Research on Changes in Seniors’ Motivation for Education in the Context of Third Age Universities

“…Orte, March, & Vives, 2007). Polští autoři Pruszynski, Putz & Cianciara (2020) však upozorňují na zajímavou skutečnost, a sice výraznou feminizaci účastníků U3V. To potvrzují i data z realizovaného výzkumu, kdy v roce 2011 tvořily ženy 83 % a v roce 2021 77 %.…”

Old Age Adult Education Systems and Refreshment University

“…In this context, it can be seen as a remarkable case that a movement such as Refreshment University (Ay et al, 2019;Bahar & Başıbüyük, 2019;Gürdal, 2018;Taşan, 2018) is very under-approached because systems for adult education are very new in Turkey and do not spread throughout the country. When the studies abroad on older age adult education are examined, it is seen that the researches are focused on promotion (Formosa, 2019;Jacob, 2019;Nascimento & Giannouli, 2019;Pruszynski et al, 2020;Wilinska, 2012), establishment (Park, 2019), improvement (Budryte et al, 2020;Urbančič et al, 2020) of the existing third age university systems holistically.…”

“…The research list the benefits of implementing innovative projects, and it is stated that comprehensive learning enables older age adults to raise awareness about active aging opportunities through socially involved education and socially involved art. The study of Pruszynski et al (2020), which deals with physical, psychological and social health education as an element of preventive gerontology based on the example of Third Age Universities, explains the current system applied in Poland in all its aspects and states that it provides many advantages by providing lifelong learning opportunities with possible future problems.…”