Psychotypes of the elderly in the course of interaction with social workers

Budyakova Tatyana Petrovna ORCID: 0000-0003-1739-837X PhD in Psychology Professor, Department of Psychology and Psychophysiology, Bunin Yelets State University 399770, Russia, Lipetsk region, Yelets, Kommunarov str., 28 budyakovaelez@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Knowledge of the personality typologies of older people is important for ensuring full and positive interaction with them, providing them with high-quality targeted counseling and other psychological assistance.

In modern science, there is a layer of research that captures the general type of personality in old age. Thus, the fact of the psychological similarity of elderly people to each other was established when they participated in operational investigative activities, even if the elderly witnesses differed along racial lines ^[14]. Similar results were obtained in medical and psychological studies, when it was revealed that elderly patients receiving nursing care at home (medications, injections, etc.), almost all demonstrated the same type of behavior, in particular, expressed high emotional concern when they were visited by nurses, regardless of the severity of their condition ^[15]. In our opinion, the general type of behavior of older people in certain cases seems to be due to the special need for attention, care and support that people in this age group need, which stimulates the appearance of age-related typological features. At the same time, the presence of common typological features in the elderly does not negate the diversity of personality types in old age.

Meanwhile, as noted, in particular, in studies devoted to the training of nurses to work with elderly patients, training programs do not include knowledge about the personality types of older people. There is a prevailing presumption that caring for the elderly does not require special psychological skills ^[20]. This leads to the fact that, for example, the majority of graduates of medical colleges in Australia, against the background of a lack of information about the diversity of types of elderly people, form a general negative image of an elderly person and the associated active reluctance to fulfill their medical duty in the niche of providing medical services to this category of citizens ^[22].

It should be noted that there is another layer of research that describes different types of personalities in old age. At the same time, it is important to emphasize that some of these typologies are aimed at regulating some private aspect of an elderly person's life. Thus, it was found that elderly Chinese living in rural areas, depending on their preferred type of social activity, make up not one type of tourist personality, but several ^[13]. The types of elderly people by type of nutrition were formulated in order to remove the barriers of eating behavior to successful aging ^[18]. In marketing, typologies of elderly buyers have been identified ^[9], etc.

In some modern studies, for example, in medicine, there is a tendency to use universal typologies that do not take into account the specifics of age when studying the specifics of psychological reactions of elderly patients. For example, a general psychological typology of patients is used to predict the effectiveness of treatment of the elderly. This typology includes four types of personalities according to the names of the letters of the Latin alphabet, from A to D. The basis for distinguishing the types: attitude to illness and behavior in relation to health. Personality type A is aggressive, B is relaxed, and C is assertive ^[16]. Type D is being investigated the most. This type is also called "restless", he has the lowest perception of health and incorrect behavior regarding health ^{[21; 25]}. Some studies show that type D is most pronounced in elderly patients, but the specifics of the manifestations of this type in different elderly people are not investigated ^[8].

Similarly, when providing psychiatric care to elderly patients, the universal personality typology of K. Leonhard is used ^[2], here the factor of mental disorder is a more important criterion of typology than the patient's age. We believe that this is not entirely correct, since old age leaves its mark on the typological manifestations of personality.

This is confirmed in some studies of the elderly. Thus, P. Steca, G. Alessandri, and G.V. Caprara drew attention to the need to transform well-known personality typologies in relation to old age when they established that the general personality model proposed by G. Eysenck requires adaptation for the purposes of describing the types of elderly people. In their opinion, the new model should include at least three new clusters: well-being, the quality of interpersonal relationships, and involvement in leisure activities ^[26].

Thus, the type of behavior as an external manifestation of a personality type can be determined not only by the type of character that developed during the previous ontogenesis, but also by the specifics of life in old age. This position is expressed in typologies specially created for the purposes of social services for the elderly.

For example, to solve the social problems of the elderly, a typology has been proposed where the types of elderly people are distinguished by cognitive status: "Independent" (able to organize their lives independently); "Experiencing some difficulties" (well-versed in everyday typical affairs, but finding it difficult to solve new tasks or situations); "In need of supervision" (having a reduced ability to make everyday decisions) and "Unable to make decisions" ^[19]. At the same time, this typology is no longer psychological, but medico-social in nature, since it is based on a physical factor related to health, the ability to self–serve.

Modern psychological literature offers both universal psychological typologies of the elderly, suitable for determining the type of any elderly person, and private typologies describing the types of only a certain part of the elderly.

A universal typology of the personalities of the elderly, which is still in demand in science, was proposed in the middle of the 20th century by S. Reichard. This typology is generally based on the signs of acceptance or non-acceptance of a pensioner's new status. It is significant that he identified not one, but three types of personalities that are recognized as adaptive for the elderly. These include, firstly, a mature type who does not regret the past and hopes for the future. Because of this, this type actively participates in the life of society, including after retiring from work, and shows interest in various hobbies.

The second adaptive type was named "Rocking chair". He accepts his advanced age and takes the position of the weak, who, due to his advanced age, requires financial and emotional support. He has no need to work in retirement, but he is trying to live comfortably in his current position as a non-working pensioner. The defensive type (the third) also refers to the adaptive type, but here the personality uses other adaptation tools. She tries to maintain the same level of activity as in her youth, subjectively not recognizing the fact of aging.

Only two types were classified as maladaptive: the fourth and fifth. The fourth type, called "Angry," actively and aggressively expresses frustration by attacking others, blaming them for life's failures. The fifth type of "Self-hater" is maladaptive due to the lack of positive ideas about himself and his life ^[23].

The socio-role approach was applied in identifying universal socio-psychological types of elderly people by A. Baker and M. Silverstein. They described such types as "Employee", "Parent", "Guardian", "Volunteer" ^[11]. Thus, even universal typologies have limitations, since they are based on different mereological features.

Particular typologies have been developed, for example, to study social role relationships in the family. Thus, typologies of grandmothers were identified according to the criterion of attitude towards grandchildren. N. Baydar and J. Brooks-Gunn identified four types of grandmothers on this basis. "Stay-at-home grandmothers" and "Well-connected young" grandmothers helped take care of their grandchildren, while "Remote" and "Frail" grandmothers did not provide care ^[10]. A.S. Spivakovskaya, based on the involvement of grandmothers in the family life of her children, suggested two types: "victim grandmother" and "rival grandmother" ^[7].

Thus, in the branches of modern science, including in various branches of psychology, typologies of the elderly have been developed, while most often the mereological grounds for distinguishing types are chosen depending on the problem that is important for the elderly. At the same time, both general typological signs of old age and distinctive ones are distinguished. At the same time, the issues of describing the psychological typologies of elderly people who apply to social protection centers have remained practically unexplored, although it is important for social service workers to establish proper contacts with an elderly client so that assistance meets his needs as much as possible and at the same time does not destabilize their own personality after communicating with a non-standard client.

The object of the study was old age, the subject was personality types in old age. The scientific novelty of the conducted research was the identification of three variants of personality typologies in old age: universal, private and situational. For the first time, it was shown that for the purposes of customer service in social protection centers, situational typologies are most effective, taking into account the nature of the situation in which an elderly client is working.

Research methodology

Research methods: a) group interview in a focus group. A group interview in a focus group is a specially organized communication between people who are familiar with a particular problem because they have previously been involved in similar situations ^[24]. After the entire group was asked interview questions at once, each member of the focus group had to give their own answer to each question.;

b) the case method. The case method was coupled with a group interview. The focus group participants described specific situations that had occurred in their practice.

The topic of discussion in the focus group is "Types of elderly clients."

The objectives of the group interview in the focus group were:

1. Identification of the types of elderly people seeking help from social services.

2. Identification of ways to interact with different types of elderly people.

Basic Interview Questions: 1) Is it possible to assert that elderly clients of social services constitute different psychological types or are they typologically homogeneous?

2) How can you describe the psychological characteristics of each type of client?

3) Which techniques from your experience have been most successful with each type of elderly client?

Selection. The participants of the focus group were psychologists working in the Department of social protection of the population of Yelets and other employees of this structure who have extensive experience in interacting with the elderly, a total of 6 people. The moderator of the focus group was the author of this article.

Results

According to the rules of work in focus groups ^[17], the topic of collective discussion was first set: "Types of elderly clients." Technologically, the work in the focus group had a specific algorithm aimed at activating the focus group members' experience of taking into account various behavioral reactions of elderly clients of the center for social protection of the population when they receive social assistance and support. In particular, the situations where typological properties of clients were manifested were consistently analyzed. Three such situations were chosen: a) distribution of humanitarian aid; b) participation of the elderly in group communication; c) receiving social and psychological assistance at home.

The moderator encouraged the focus group members not only to provide a typological assessment of their clients, but also to provide specific examples that would confirm their position. As a result of the exchange and analysis of experience, the types of elderly clients were identified depending on the situation in which they were actualized.

Let us consider successively the personality types of older people that have manifested themselves in different situations of social interaction. Social service workers, in addition to their traditional duties, are also engaged in distributing humanitarian aid, for example, in cases of a pandemic, on the day of the elderly, etc. The focus group participants identified three types of recipients of such assistance: a) "obligated," b) "suspicious," and c) "aggressive." Communication with each of the types required an individual approach. So, elderly people of the "obligated" type, receiving such help, tried to somehow thank the volunteers: someone, for example, asked to take a little garlic from their garden, someone offered homemade pastries. The volunteers had to politely and kindly decline, so as not to offend the elderly man. This type was called obligated because the recipients of assistance subjectively felt obligated to somehow repay the kindness and attention that outsiders were not obligated to show them.

The "Aggressive" type required a completely different psychological reaction. Representatives of this type initially considered humanitarian aid to be their property, and not an accidental good. They carefully checked the composition of the products in the transferred package and made scandals if it seemed to them that some product was missing. In such cases, the volunteers had to explain that the food package was collected at the expense of the charity of local entrepreneurs and that what was included in it was also determined by them. In one case, when a pensioner accused volunteers of missing a chocolate bar in a grocery set, one of them offered to buy a chocolate bar to a scandalous woman at her own expense. This psychological method of demonstrating one's conscientiousness had a stabilizing effect on an emotionally aroused woman.

However, the third type of "Suspicious" turned out to be the most difficult to communicate with, since he refused to accept humanitarian aid at all. The motivation for the refusal of representatives of the suspicious type was the fear of becoming a victim of strangers. The psychological conclusion that was drawn by the volunteers for these cases is a show of respect for the position of an elderly person. There was no need to insist and convince the pensioner to open the door, but a legal and psychological formula should have been used: "Taking help is the right of an elderly person, not his duty."

Four types of personalities were identified in the situation of receiving social and psychological assistance at home: a) "religious"; b) "contractual"; c) "dictatorial"; d) "manipulative".

The "religious" type demonstrated complete resignation to the difficult life situation caused by the aging of the body and the difficult economic situation. This type has found psychological coping formulas that a social worker must maintain in order not to destroy the stability of the individual's functioning in such cases. Here is an example of one of the cases in which this type manifested itself.

Case 1. An elderly woman lives alone, and her grandson comes to her once a month on the day of receiving her pension. The formulas of humility with the current situation are as follows: "The Lord helps me by sending the people I need"; "The Lord will satisfy me"; "The Lord will not leave", etc.

The "contractual" type demonstrated behavior that can be described as requiring the fulfillment of those prescriptions that were in the social service contract: "I pay for such and such a service, you must provide it." This type is the easiest to communicate with, as each party knows the limits of their rights and responsibilities.

The "dictatorial" personality type of an elderly recipient of social services at home manifested itself in such communication formulas as: "I do not allow you to leave!"; "You must come tomorrow at such and such a time!" etc. This type of personality required unquestioning obedience from the social worker, showing his leading position in the social role dyad and the dependent position of a social assistant. Communicating with such people required special flexibility and theatricality.

The "manipulative type" was demonstrated by elderly people with a developed imagination. They came up with any excuse to force the social worker to do something more than their direct duties under the social service contract, writing various, almost fantastic stories. In such cases, both supporting fantasies and intentionally destroying them can lead to conflicts with the client.

Four types of elderly people became relevant among the participants of communication groups at the social protection center: a) "positive"; b) "critical"; c) "indifferent" and d) "intentionally conflicted".

The "positive type" is people who realize the value of each member of the communication group. They behave attentively and kindly towards both the psychologist and everyone present in the group, regardless of whether they have known him for a long time or whether he is a newcomer. This type is similar in psychological characteristics to the universal mature type, well adapted to old age, described by S. Reichard ^[23].

The "critical type" behaved like a censor, evaluating the technique of conducting classes. For example, one of the clients constantly reminded: "I want to clarify how well you serve us," gave advice on improving communication technologies in the group (case 2). According to the participants of the focus group, this type should be supported, since his concern makes it possible to improve the mechanisms of communication with the elderly.

The "Indifferent" type included those participants in communication groups who behaved aloof, without showing interest in group events and processes. Most of these elderly people rarely came and missed most classes. Case 3 shows the essence of this type. To the question: "Will you come next time?" the client replied: "I don't understand why I'm here. I don't feel like an old man." This type is clearly not adapted to his retirement status and feels uncomfortable in the social role of a pensioner. This type is close to the positive "Defensive" type described by S. Reichard ^[23], therefore, psychological work with him should be based on a positive type: to support claims to counteract age-related changes.

The "intentionally conflicted" type demonstrated that personality development and change continues in old age, and that a new personality type can be formed during the silver age. In the focus group, this type was described as a person who comes to a social group in order to develop those aspects of his personality that were previously intentionally suppressed by social conventions and rules. This type defiantly draws attention to his person, and doing so in a conflictual manner. For example, an elderly lady lacked a teaspoon in a common tea party (case 4). She pointedly demanded to know why she didn't get a spoon. Most of the communication time was spent calming her down, everyone explained that no one wanted to offend her, they found three spoons for her to choose from at once, but everyone's mood was spoiled. In an individual conversation with a psychologist about the reasons for this behavior, this elderly woman said that during her previous life she tried to get along with everyone, not to declare her interests, to give in to everyone so that there would be no strained relations. Her advanced age, she believes, has given her the opportunity to apply a different behavior model that she has always avoided in order to test its effectiveness. In such cases, psychological counseling is necessary, otherwise fixation on negative behaviors will begin, which can lead to the destruction of social contacts among such clients.

Discussion of the results

The study showed that different types of behavior and, consequently, different types of personalities can manifest themselves in old age. The focus group did not identify a common type of behavior typical for all older people, which indicates that the situations of social interaction under consideration did not stimulate the formation of common standards of behavior.

Among the described personality types that manifested themselves in the situation of communication groups at the Center for social protection of the population, types similar to those found in the S. Reichard typology were identified. This is proof that S. Reichard's typology reflects exactly the type of communication and self-representation in a small social group, but is of little use in other cases.

In addition, the universal typology described by Suzanne Reichard was created as a result of studying English pensioners. Hence, some of the options described by her are not typical for Russian society, for example, the "Rocking chair" option is a type of pastime of an English aristocrat, and not a domestic elderly worker or farmer. The universal typology of the elderly proposed by A.V. Kyachkin, which was used by other researchers of the Silver Age, is more consistent with domestic realities ^[5]. However, this typology uses so many different grounds for distinguishing types that it requires serious refinement. Thus, A.V. Kyachkin distinguished the "Family" and "Lonely" types along with the "Creative", "Social", "Political", "Religious", "Sick" and "Fading" types. Obviously, the types "Family" and "Single" should form a separate typology based on the presence of family ties, as well as the types "Fading" and "Social", since they have a common mereological feature – participation in social life, etc. ^[3]. Of the types described by A.V. Kyachkin, some types correlate with those we have identified, for example, "Positive" correlates with "Social", and the "Religious" type has found application in our typology. However, since the types identified by A.V. Kyachkin are not tied to specific situations, but claim to be universal, this makes it difficult to formulate rules for providing counseling and psychotherapeutic care in specific cases.

One of the results of our research was the proof that the personality typologies of an elderly person can be both universal and situational in nature, that is, the type of behavior and, accordingly, the type of personality depends on the typical situation in which an elderly person finds himself. The regularity of our results is confirmed by the data of victimology (the science of the victim). Within the framework of this science, which has a solid psychological component, both universal and situational typologies of crime victims have been formulated. Two of the most famous universal typologies of crime victims were created by D.V. Rivman: "Active type", "Passive type", etc. ^[6]. In addition, typologies have been developed that differ depending on the type of crime committed against the victim, for example, the typology of victims of terrorism ^[4], the typology of victims of attacks on sexual freedom ^[1], etc. These typologies are situational in nature, as they are determined by a situational factor – the circumstances of the crime committed.

Our empirical study confirmed the fact of continued personality development in old age, which was established earlier in other studies ^[12]. Our research has shown that new personality types can form in old age, even alternatives to previously formed ones. Thus, a non-conflicting type can transform into a conflict type.

We have shown that in some situations of social interaction that are important in old age: receiving humanitarian aid, receiving social services at home, and communicating in specially created communication groups based on the center for social protection of the population, behaviors determined by the very nature of the situation turned out to be significant. This suggests that the general personality typologies developed in psychology earlier, but not taking into account the specifics of old age, should be adapted to the special conditions of social interaction in late ontogenesis.

Conclusion

The reasons for the formation of different personality types in old age can be a variety of factors and they should be taken into account in counseling and psychotherapeutic work with elderly clients of social services. These factors may include a reassessment of life values and forms of communication, the development of new standards of behavior, and not only the established personality traits that have become the basis of character accents, as well as crisis and stressful experiences.

Identification of personality types is important for building the logic of productive interaction with elderly clients of social services, depending on their individual typological characteristics. In this regard, the very organization of communication within the framework of the focus group created an opportunity to pay attention to the problem of personality typologies in old age and to master new behavioral techniques with typologically different people.

It was found that three variants of personality typologies in old age can be distinguished: universal, private and situational. For the purposes of customer service in social protection centers, situational typologies are most effective, taking into account the nature of the situation in which an elderly client is working.

At the same time, other situations of social interaction in the elderly may also stimulate other types of personalities, which requires further study.

It is possible to formulate some recommendations on the formation of the readiness of social service workers to interact with different types of elderly clients. First, the training programs for social workers should include topics on the study of personality traits of the elderly. Secondly, foreign programs aimed at training unemployed young people to help the elderly deserve attention ^[27]. These programs should also include information about personality types in late ontogenesis. Thirdly, social services should guide all relatives of the elderly to understand the lability of personality in old age.