The understanding of life quality by Latvian seniors nowadays
2019
Veide, M., University of Business, Arts and Technology RISEBA, Riga (Latvia)
An increase in the average life expectancy and, hence, the number of elderly but still able-to-work people, and the relatively low assessment of lifelong learning on the increase of life quality indicate the topicality of the point of view of the representatives of the gerontogenesis period. The main aim of the article is to clarify the perceptions of the Latvian seniors on the quality of life, its contributing and restrictive aspects. In order to verify the understanding of life quality by seniors in today's situation, questionnaires with incomplete sentences were created. Hundred sixty seniors aged 70 to 95 with and without higher education were surveyed. Although a popular opinion among seniors is that the quality of life depends on the person himself, on his integrity, on his attitude towards other people and life in general, of his ability to choose the right job for himself and work hard, as well as of his care for his health and willingness to socialize, the restrictive aspects on quality of life are largely observed in external factors. For many seniors, their perception of life has been affected by a significant loss experience. Besides health and financial problems seniors mention an irresolvable existential problem, namely, “lost” time. In comparison with young people, seniors consider as aspects for having a good life – health, physical activity, satisfaction with work to be done (not related to remuneration), living space, nature and access to the environment – relatively more often, while less often – self-improvement and education. There are also several significant differences in the notion of life quality for seniors with higher education and seniors without higher education.
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