A Model of Socio-psychological Support of Elderly People in the Post-labor Period and a Sociological Analysis of the Main Criteria for its Effectiveness and Efficiency

Anisimova Oksana PhD in Biology Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, Shevchenko Transnistria State University 3300, Moldova, Tiraspol, ul. 25 October, 128 anisimova_oksana@mail.ru Bondarenko Yuliya PhD in Pedagogy Associate Professor, Department of Socio-Cultural Communications and Mediation, T.G. Shevchenko Pridnestrovian State University 3300, Moldova, g. Tiraspol', ul. 25 Oktyabrya, 128 ajs2000@mail.ru Other publications by this author     Buchkova Alla PhD in Sociology Associate Professor, Department of Political Science and Sociology, Plekhanov Russian University of Economics 117997, Russia, g. Moscow, per. Stremyannyi, 28, k. 1, aud. 340 life.pmr@gmail.com Other publications by this author

Kilinskaia Natalia Senior Lecturer, Department of Socio-Cultural Communications and Mediation, T.G. Shevchenko Pridnestrovian State University 3300, Moldova, g. Tiraspol', ul. 25 Oktyabrya, 128 natalie-info@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

Currently, full-fledged socio-psychological support of elderly people is carried out mainly in closed geriatric institutions. Psychological assistance services for the population of this age group are not effective enough, which is associated not only with some stigmatization of seeking help from a psychologist, but also with an implicit need to receive psychological support. That is, a person in late adulthood, when faced with a crisis, is often unable to comprehend their problems and formulate a request for help. These shortcomings could be significantly smoothed out with the presence of a system of socio-psychological support in organizations and enterprises where older people finish their work, as well as with the expanded work of psychological services in employment centers and social protection structures of citizens. Thus, the society is forming a request for systematic socio-psychological support of elderly people in the post-labor period. This trend can be traced as in Russia ^{[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]}, so it is in other countries ^{[7, 8, 9, 10]}. In this regard, the presentation of a new model of socio-psychological support for the elderly with an appropriate sociological analysis of the main criteria for its effectiveness and effectiveness seems relevant.

Specialists in the field of age and geriatric psychology have developed several models of socio-psychological support of people during late adulthood, depending on the goals of the program, age and psychological characteristics of the elderly.

Currently, researchers pay a lot of attention to the socio-psychological support of elderly people in stationary gerontological centers. Thus, theoretical models of socio-psychological support mainly include four main stages:

1. Psychological education. Providing information about the peculiarities of old age, the main difficulties that an elderly person may face when retiring, etc.

2. Diagnostics. Research of cognitive functions, personal characteristics, professional abilities.

3. Consulting. Organization of individual and group consultations on various issues, work on solving psychological problems. In some institutions of social protection of the population, career guidance counseling is in demand. Elderly people are selected a suitable job for them. There are cases of employment of those who are on security inside the boarding house for such positions as a janitor, a nurse, a cloakroom attendant, a courier, etc. Psychological counseling of relatives can also be attributed here.

4. Psychocorrective work. The use of various methods of psychocorrective influence (cognitive trainings, trainings of communication skills, creativity, sensitivity, self-confidence, etc.).

Socio-psychological support of elderly patients of gerontological centers is based mainly on an individual approach to the recipients of social services based on studying their needs and determining together with them ways to overcome or solve emerging difficulties. Comprehensive support allows not only to solve the actual problem identified by the client, but also simultaneously to identify and neutralize the negative factors of maladaptation ^[11].

The model of socio-psychological support of elderly people in a stationary institution, developed by O. V. Arkhipova ^[12], consists of the following modules:

1. Diagnostic.

2. Individual psychological assistance.

3. Psychotherapy.

4. Educational and informational.

The authors focus on psychodiagnostics and rehabilitation measures in the activities of a psychologist in an inpatient institution.

The most interesting, in our opinion, is the model of psychological and pedagogical support developed by Ermolaeva M. V. ^[13]. This model takes into account the types of aging and is aimed at helping elderly people who are not patients of geriatric centers. It includes two modules, divided according to the types of aging and the corresponding features of personal self-determination. The first module reflects the process of psychological and pedagogical support of elderly people characterized by normal aging, whose personal self-determination is qualified as a process of self-development. The second module describes the process of psychological and pedagogical support of the elderly, characterized by optimal aging and the form of personal self-determination, which acts in the unity of the processes of self-development and self-realization.

As a result of a review and analytical study, we came to the conclusion that there was a need to develop a model of socio-psychological support for elderly people in the post-work period. The creation of the model and the sociological analysis of its effectiveness and efficiency became the goal of our research and determined its novelty.

The subject of the study was a model of socio-psychological support of elderly people in the post-labor period.

We believe that our model should be considered from the perspective of a personality-oriented and eudemonistic approach to the concept of "psychological well-being", in which the fullness of a person's self-realization in specific life conditions and circumstances is realized, finding a "creative synthesis" between meeting the demands of the social environment and the development of one's own individuality. The model of socio-psychological support is implemented through the observance of organizational and pedagogical conditions, the formation of life satisfaction and psychological well-being, presented through forms, methods and means.

The model developed by us presents the following forms of socio-psychological support:

- prevention;

- psychological diagnostics;

- education;

- consulting;

- correctional measures.

To fill these forms with content, methods such as:

- educational lectures;

- training exercises;

- conversations;

- discussions;

- simulated situations.

The following means are needed to implement the tasks set:

- interactive technologies;

- media equipment.

The developed model of socio-psychological support includes such components as: targeted, meaningful, functional, effective (see Fig. 1).

Fig. 1 Model of socio-psychological support of elderly people in the post-work periodThe target component.

The purpose of socio-psychological support in this model is the formation of theoretical knowledge in certain areas of age psychology, understanding of physiological and psychological processes occurring in the body during late adulthood and old age. The goal – to increase psychological well–being - defines a group of tasks that are focused both on the final result as a whole and on constant movement to achieve self-agreement, harmony with the world around you and life satisfaction.

The content component of the model is focused on the development of the following components of psychological well-being:

· positive relationships with other people (satisfactory, trusting relationships with others; concern for the well-being of others; the ability to empathize, the permissibility of attachment and close relationships; understanding the importance of building human relationships on mutual concessions);

· autonomy (independence and independence, the ability to resist society's attempts to force people to think and act in a certain way; the ability to independently regulate their own behavior and evaluate themselves in accordance with personal criteria);

· environment management (having the power and competence to manage the environment, control of all external activities, effective use of opportunities presented, the ability to capture or create conditions and circumstances suitable for meeting personal needs and achieving goals);

· personal growth (having a sense of continuous development, perceiving oneself as "growing" and self-fulfilling, openness to new experiences, feeling a sense of realizing one's potential, observing improvements in oneself and one's actions over time; changes in accordance with one's own knowledge and achievements.);

· the presence of a goal in life (the presence of a conscious goal in life and a sense of direction; the idea that past and present life has meaning; the presence of beliefs that are the sources of a goal in life and the intention to move towards this goal);

· self-acceptance (positive attitude towards oneself, knowledge and acceptance of one's various sides, including both good and bad qualities, positive assessment of one's past).

Functional component. The proposed model allows us to identify the following functions of the process of improving the psychological well-being of older people in the post-work period:

1) developing – contributes to the self-realization of a pensioner and the expansion of his horizons;

2) innovative – in the mind of an elderly person, the ability to solve complex life tasks is formed, and qualities such as the ability to adapt to new changing conditions of activity are developed;

3) educational – forms a system of knowledge of a general psychological orientation among the project participants.

The effective component. The result of the implementation of the model is a conscious increase in psychological well-being, which consists in the development of individual components that make up this concept. At the same time, it is impossible to identify certain criteria for assessing the full achievement of the goal of psychological support due to the fact that this is a process that is prolonged in time and does not have a clear end. Project participants can judge the achievement of certain positive results subjectively.

To develop a system of socio-psychological support, it is necessary to identify its elements and select criteria by which to evaluate the effectiveness and effectiveness of the model. As the main criterion, many researchers highlight the quality of life and psychological well-being ^{[14, 15, 16]}.

The purpose of our sociological research is to study and select criteria by which to evaluate the effectiveness and effectiveness of socio-psychological support.

The hypothesis was that the design of the system of socio-psychological support should be carried out on the basis of taking into account the levels of formation of such components of psychological well-being as: environmental management, personal growth, purpose in life and self-acceptance.

The following methods were used in this study:theoretical methods (analysis, synthesis, comparison, generalization, modeling); diagnostic methods (questionnaire (author's version); questionnaire "Scale of psychological well-being" by K. Riff (adaptation by T. D. Shevelenkova, P. P. Fesenko)); methods of mathematical statistics.

The total sample size is 156 pensioners, with retirement experience from 1 to 14 years (94 women and 62 men) aged 55 to 74 years. The professional status of respondents: working (77 people) and not working (79 people). The distribution of participants by gender and employment is close to uniform, there is no obvious bias in any direction. The study was conducted in the period from April to September 2021 in the Republic of Moldova, Transnistria.

Table 1 shows the average indicators by age and retirement experience for the entire sample and for individual categories (men /women and working/non-working). Obviously, the retirement experience and the average age of working pensioners was lower than that of non-working pensioners.

Table 1Average age and retirement experience of the study participants, years (M±?)

Parameter

As a result of the survey, the following data were obtained.

When answering questions about living with relatives and communicating with them, 36 people (23% of respondents) living alone and without communication with family members even remotely were identified, among them 20 women and 16 men. As has been proven in a number of studies ^[17], living apart from family and relatives does not lead to an increase in the feeling of loneliness and abandonment. Various social connections, communication with friends, neighbors, and work colleagues have a much greater impact on this indicator. Therefore, in addition to the question of living in a family or in isolation, we included a question about the subjective feeling of loneliness, to which the respondents answered based on their perception of the surrounding reality.

To clarify the subjective feelings of loneliness, a ranked question was included in the questionnaire form: "How much do you feel lonely? Rate it on a 7-point scale (1 – I feel absolutely lonely, 7 – I don't feel lonely at all)." The answers to this question revealed that 15 people (less than 1% of respondents, 11 men and 4 women) consider themselves absolutely lonely, 14 people (less than 1% of respondents, 3 men and 11 women) do not feel lonely at all.

From the data obtained, it follows that men tend to feel more lonely than women, and non–working pensioners are more lonely than working ones. Apparently, working pensioners maintain more social ties in an active state than non-working ones. This issue deserves a separate study.

Less than a third (26%) of the study participants were living in their own home. Slightly more respondents (57%) had a private plot. Many study participants had pets (66%). Living in a private house, having a private plot or a pet, in our opinion, contributes to the diversity of leisure and employment of a pensioner, his life is filled with certain meanings and goals, which can contribute to a calmer course of the aging crisis and the transition from work to retirement.

Only a third (34%) of our respondents have relatives who provide financial assistance.

Obviously, if an elderly person lives together with a spouse, their family budget is combined, and there is no question of financial support for each other in this case. When answering this question, we asked our participants to answer about financial assistance from younger relatives: children, grandchildren, nephews, etc.

At the same time, our respondents mostly receive moral support from their loved ones (77%).

In response to the question about the expectations of participation in the project under development, we offered respondents the following answers with the possibility of choosing any number of options:

- communication with peers;

- communication with young people;

- expanding the circle of communication;

- acquisition of new knowledge and skills;

- interesting leisure activities;

- an opportunity to share your life experience and knowledge;

- professional psychological support;

- self-knowledge;

- your own version.

The most popular answer was "interesting leisure activities" (79%) and only slightly behind it was the answer "the opportunity to share your life experience and knowledge" (73%). In third place (66%) – "communication with peers". Only 13% of the respondents will come to the project for professional psychological help. Among their own options, there were such as supporting a friend, taking care of health, and a good mood. Thus, the participants readily expect to participate in the project and are positive.

When analyzing the results of the questionnaire "K. Riff Scale of psychological well-being" for the entire sample, without dividing into groups, it was revealed that the average indicators for all the main scales except one have a low level. Only on the "autonomy" scale, the participants showed an average level.

Thus, the average level of psychological well-being of pensioners who took part in the study was below average. Only on the basis of these results it can be concluded that older people need help from psychologists to improve the quality of life in general and psychological well-being in particular. But they are not aware of these needs, as the results of the survey showed.

When comparing the results of two groups of different employment, significant differences were revealed on all scales except two: autonomy and self-acceptance. Consequently, working pensioners subjectively assess their psychological well-being higher.

The results obtained by us are also confirmed by the literature data. Thus, in the studies of Kabirova A. A. and co-authors, it is concluded that working pensioners reliably assess their psychological well-being higher ^[18]. Melekhin A. I. when studying the quality of life in the elderly and senile age ^[15], as one of the factors affecting the quality of life, indicates the social activity of an elderly person, which can also include the professional activity of a working pensioner. Thus, the mere fact of professional employment of a pensioner can contribute to improving his psychological well-being.

In studies of the emotional state of pensioners ^[19], it was demonstrated that job loss is associated with strong feelings, stress and anxiety. The most negative effect of job loss is on psychological well-being in the case of forced job loss (dismissal) due to reaching retirement age.

When comparing the two gender groups in our study, the differences on all scales are no longer significant and are within the statistical error.

When analyzing job satisfaction among working pensioners, it was revealed that men showed lower scores than women on almost all scales, with the exception of the internal level of subjective control.

Thus, it can be concluded that the fact whether a pensioner continues his professional career or is completely free from work has a great influence on the self-assessment of the psychological and social well-being of an elderly person.

When comparing the data obtained between groups of working and non-working men and women, a number of other features can be identified (see Table 2).

Table 2The results of the analysis of the questionnaire "K. Riff Scale of psychological well-being" in groups of different gender and employment (M±?)

Scale

If we translate these scores into levels (high, medium, low), and quantify them in the form of a weight characteristic of the level (stan), we can find that most components of psychological well-being are developed at a low level or on average, but at its lowest limit (see Table 3).

Table 3Levels of development of individual components of psychological well-being in groups of different gender and employment (c ten*)

Scale

*Note: walls 1-3 correspond to the low level; medium level – 4-7; high level – 8-10.

** – the differences are significant.

The lowest levels on all scales were demonstrated by unemployed men. Perhaps this was due to the fact that the majority of single men (4 out of 6) were in this category. At the same time, the highest levels were found in the group of working men. The difference between these two categories was significant. Such results may indicate that the loss of work in the post-labor period turns out to be more serious stress for men than for women, although in the group of women the difference between working and non-working pensioners was also traced, but was at the level of statistical error, that is, insignificant.

On the "autonomy" scale, significant differences were observed between working and non-working men, as well as between working men and women. Working male pensioners showed higher scores on this scale compared to all other categories, which may indicate that they are less dependent on the opinions of others and are influenced.

According to studies of the emotional state of people of retirement age ^[19], a higher level of stress was observed in working pensioners, both men and women. The authors associate this stress with the fear of imminent forced dismissal and pressure from the authorities. However, the results of our study showed that a higher social and professional status can significantly reduce this effect.

According to the "environment management" scale, significant differences are observed between working and non-working in all combinations. All our respondents showed an average and low score on this scale, that is, the elderly people who took part in the study experienced some difficulties in organizing their daily lives, a sense of helplessness, showed a low ability to manage and create conditions suitable for meeting personal needs. This may indicate both the deteriorating physical condition of the respondents and the increased rhythm of modern life, the inability of older people to match the current pace of social development.

According to the "personal growth" scale, significant differences were revealed only between working and non-working pensioners. The highest scores are found by working pensioners regardless of gender. The personal growth of our respondents turned out to be closely related to their professional activities. Thus, the research of T. B. Sergeeva and co-authors ^[20] showed that working pensioners have a holistic view of themselves in various situations (systemic reflection) is associated with personal growth, while non-working pensioners have goals and meanings of life. In general, women scored higher on this scale, they were especially high among pensioners living with a large family, as well as those who lead a fairly active lifestyle

According to the "goals in life" scale, the differences between working and non-working men, between working men and non-working women, and between working women and non-working men were significant.

The lowest scores were found in the groups of non-working men and women, and these indicators were lower for non-working men than for non-working women. Some researchers associate the decline in indicators on this scale with age and physical condition, as well as with the loss of a sense of personal progress, boredom, disinterest in life, lack of life prospects ^[21]. Nevertheless, among our respondents there were some pensioners with an active lifestyle who claim that only in retirement they realized the meaning and purpose of their life. In the studies of Russian psychologists ^{[22, 23]}, it is noted that in the post-labor period, elderly people can greatly change their life positions and meaningfulness due to various conditions of experiencing a crisis.

According to the "self-acceptance" scale, significant differences were observed between working men and all other categories of participants. The highest scores on this scale, corresponding to the average level, were found in the category of working men.

According to E. A. Kovaleva's own research ^[24], it was found that the moment of retirement and crossing the border of social age negatively affects such a psychological characteristic of a person as self-acceptance. At the same time, in the future, with an increase in age and, accordingly, retirement experience, this indicator remains almost unchanged.

According to the integral indicator "psychological well-being", there were significant differences in the groups of working and non-working men, as well as in the groups of working women and non-working men, working men and non-working women.

The greatest difference was found between working and non-working men. We assume this may be due to the fact that these groups of respondents were the most differentiated, both in terms of physical condition and living conditions.

Interesting, in our opinion, seems to be the discovery of a connection between the subjective feeling of loneliness, which we assessed on a 7-point scale during the survey, and psychological well-being. We performed statistical data processing using the Pearson correlation coefficient. For the entire sample, there is a correlation between the subjective feeling of loneliness and psychological well-being (0.63). That is, pensioners who felt loneliness more strongly showed a lower number of points on the integrated indicator "psychological well-being", and vice versa, higher scores of psychological well-being corresponded to a lower feeling of loneliness.

If we consider separately the groups of working and non–working elderly people, then there is the same correlation with the feeling of loneliness (working – R2 = 0.712; non-working - R2 = 0.6557). That is, working pensioners are less likely to experience loneliness and have higher indicators on the scale of "psychological well-being"; among non-working pensioners there are more participants rated their loneliness with lower scores.

As noted above, many researchers pointed to the fact that the psychological well-being of an elderly person is affected not only by age and physical condition, but also by social status and professional employment. As a result of the conducted research, we confirmed that the continuation of a working career significantly increases psychological well-being, although this indicator is also influenced by psychological characteristics of the individual (positive attitude, goal-setting and meaningfulness, self-acceptance) and the immediate environment (close people, family, favorite occupation, hobbies, diverse leisure and active lifestyle).

Thus, the result of our research was the development of a model of socio-psychological support of elderly people in the post-labor period based on the eudemonistic approach within the framework of existential-humanistic psychology.

During the sociological analysis of the main criteria for the effectiveness and effectiveness of socio-psychological support, it was revealed that the least vulnerable category of elderly people is a group of working male pensioners, and the most vulnerable group is non-working male pensioners. Based on the results of statistical analysis, the most significant differences were observed between the categories of working and non-working pensioners. There were no significant differences in the components of psychological well-being between men and women. The most developed component of psychological well-being relative to others turned out to be the "autonomy" component, for which the majority of participants showed an average level. This suggests that within the framework of socio-psychological support, purposeful work is needed not only on the development of such components as environmental management, personal growth, purpose in life and self-acceptance, but also on the formation of positive relationships with other people. We also found a negative correlation between the subjective assessment of loneliness and psychological well-being.

Thus, our assumption that the design of a system of socio-psychological support should be carried out on the basis of taking into account the levels of formation of such components of psychological well-being as: environmental management, personal growth, purpose in life and self-acceptance, was only partially confirmed. Additional attention should also be paid to the formation of positive relationships with other people. The project we are developing should take into account the highlighted features and represent a systematic socio-psychological support of elderly people in the post-work period in order to improve the psychological well-being of elderly people by involving them in various social activities. In addition, it is important to raise the level of awareness of elderly people regarding their needs for psychological assistance to improve the quality of life in general and psychological well-being in particular.