RESEARCH OF ELDERLY PEOPLE’S PROBLEMS OF SOCIAL ADAPTATION AND SOCIAL ACTIVITY IN MODERN SOCIETY AND METHODS OF THEIR OVERCOMING (ON THE EXAMPLE OF BELGOROD REGION)

ABSTRACT

The article is devoted to the analysis of elderly people's main problems of social adaptation and social activity in modern society and the specifics of their overcoming. The scientific work describes the characteristics of older people and the changes occurring to them at a critical moment in their lives. The article investigates the problems of health of elderly citizens, socio-psychological and economic problems that complicate the process of adaptation and social activity in old age, as well as the variety of factors that affect the process of their adaptation to the conditions of the social environment. The most important aspect of scientific work is the question of overcoming the emerging problems of social adaptation and social activity of older people. In addition, an effective option is to organize social and cultural activities for older people, which helps them to develop in accordance with their interests and needs. This article will be interesting for scientists and students who study the social adaptation of older people, and for a wide range of readers.

Keywords: elderly people, social adaptation, social activity, retirement, active lifestyle.

The older people have a sufficient number of problems arising in the process of social adaptation to the conditions of the modern world. Therefore, the main tool for improving their social adaptation is to preserve and maintain social activity, which helps them develop in accordance with their capabilities, aspirations, hobbies and needs. In order for older people to be more fully involved in the process of stimulating their active life position, and thus be able successfully overcome the period of adaptation to changing conditions of the social environment, it is necessary to consider a number of problems they have.

The main problem of older people is the deterioration of their health. When asked about the assessment of their health status, 70% of senior citizens answered satisfactorily and 25% of respondents answered poorly. This said that pensioners with age progressively increases the number of pathological lesions of various organs and systems, that’s why they are increasingly beginning to complain about the state of their body.

Of course, in old age, a person begins to have a tendency to limit motor activity, to unwillingness to comply with the regime, passivity in relation to many psychogenic stresses instead of active resistance to them. Moreover, with age, representatives of this category are less and less begins to take care of their own health and practically do not comply with the conditions of maintaining a proper lifestyle, that also has a bad effect on the state of their body.

Of course, with retirement, in addition to health problems, an elderly person faces psychological problems. Because of their age, older people are quite hard to tolerate leaving work, a sharp change in their social status, and the loss of a loved one. All these events significantly change the conditions of existence of an elderly person, and therefore he has to find a new meaning of his life. In addition, the best option for the meaning of life in the period of old age can be a psychological restructuring of your body, the development of a new attitude to others, your social role and your own personality. Such changes should include only a positive attitude to one's own life from the height of accumulated experience and knowledge. To perceive various failures only as a movement forward towards your goal and dream, an opportunity to perceive your life in a new way precisely because its finale is approaching.

Lack of employment the older people is associated with their separation from society. Unemployment, which occurs the older people as a result of a decrease in life activity and energy, can be considered as a psychosocial phenomenon, which is explained as the psychology of each person, and the impact on him society, turning it off from social life. Therefore, representatives of this category come to the fore with their own internal needs.

Nevertheless, the elderly citizen still has a need for work, the realization of their social roles. To deprive an aging person of the opportunity to express himself in any activity is equivalent to shortening his life. That is why the elderly person is so painfully experiencing a change in their social status due to retirement. He may have stress, depression, a constant feeling of loneliness. In addition, loneliness is the most emotionally difficult psychological problem for representatives of this category.

Loneliness is a painful feeling, an increasing gap with others; fear of the consequences of a lonely lifestyle, a heavy experience associated with the loss of essential life values, or loved ones, a constant feeling of uselessness and uselessness of one's own existence [12, с. 48]. Loneliness leaves a significant imprint on the behavior of an elderly person who is increasingly moving away from a socially active life.

As a rule, loneliness of elderly people connected with the end of active professional activity. Work collective for many people becomes an integral part of their existence. At work, people are constantly in motion, busy with various things. Nevertheless, moving into the category of the elderly population, as a rule, a person loses all of the above opportunities. The older people are less likely to get involved in new activities, meet with former colleagues that gradually reduce their professional ties. Moreover, based on the study, almost 85% of older people feel lonely. The reason for this is the lack of attention from their family members, which further adversely affects the vitality, psyche, health of the elderly.

We can say that changes in the environment, the creation of a situation where a person who has lost a social role will be able to compensate for it in an activity that is feasible for his age. This will help an elderly person to reduce the severe psycho-emotional state that he experiences in the process of social adaptation in modern society.

Socio-economic problems also play an important role in the lives of older persons. Social problems of older people mainly arise with retirement due to a sharp change in the social situation of older people in the modern world, the formation of new value orientations and attitudes in the public consciousness.

The main social problem of representatives of this category is the narrowing of their social contacts. Termination of employment has a negative effect on the energy, psyche, and health of the elderly. The older a person gets, the more his social connections reduced and social activity decreases. This is due, firstly, to the termination of compulsory professional activity, which entails the establishment and updating of the system of social relations and obligations. Having stopped working activity, the majority of pensioners ceases to communicate with colleagues at work, communication with whom could occur both in the workplace and during joint leisure. At the same time, a pensioner suddenly has a large amount of free time that needs is filled with something. Therefore, an elderly person, due to his lack of adaptation to this sudden «freedom», often has a feeling of «emptiness» after retirement.

Secondly, many close people and friends of older people die or begin to have difficulties in maintaining relationships due to the move of friends to children or other relatives. Of course, many older people do not want is reminded of old age, and because of this, they do not like to communicate with their peers, preferring the company of younger people.

Naturally, many of the difficulties of older citizens often accompanied by economic problems. Financial situation is something that can really compete in importance with health. The elderly people alarmed by the high cost of medicines, medical care, and their incomes. Moreover, based on the results of the study, 50 percent of pensioners are experiencing difficulties in the financial situation, when they cannot afford to buy some things because of a small pension. As a result, older persons cannot adequately meet their basic life needs. In addition, 45 percent of retirees indicated that they rarely received financial assistance from their family members, which made older persons even more financially disadvantaged.

Because with retirement, older people experience all of the above difficulties in social adaptation, they asked to answer the question of how quickly they were able to adapt to the change in their social status after retirement. Moreover, 40 percent of older people answered that they were able to adapt to the emerging changes quite quickly, and 35% of respondents answered that they were able to adapt slowly.

We can said that, despite a sufficient number of the above problems, an elderly person needs to maintain and maintain the need to stimulate social activity in order to overcome them further. Therefore, elderly people asked a number of questions to identify their desire to engage in various types of social activity. Thus, 50% of elderly citizens would like to engage in various types of active activity.

The possibility of developing a person's social activity at an older age is one of the productive ways of her successful adaptation to new living conditions, improving the level and quality of life. Thus, an active lifestyle and participation in various activities increase the level of satisfaction with their lives. Nevertheless, at the same time, a retired person does not always have the opportunity to organize his own activities. This can facilitated by the process of stimulating older people to preserve and further maintain their social activity, which consists in providing various opportunities for the active life of elderly citizens.

Therefore, we will look at various methods and ways to stimulate social activity in old age. In this regard, a special role belongs to socio-cultural activities, where a significant place given to social services for older citizens.

According to the Federal law «On the basics of social services for citizens in the Russian Federation» social service of elderly people represents activity on providing social services to the specified citizens [1]. Social services for older people are now a special system that combines a wide variety of forms, types of services, the common goal of which is to meet the needs of older people that help them successfully adapt to the social environment.

In addition, to improve the life of older people, a «Strategy for action in the interests of older citizens in the Russian Federation until 2025» was developed. One of the key objectives of the Strategy should be the creation of a society for all ages, including the creation of conditions for the use of knowledge, experience, and capacity of older people, taking care of such citizens and providing them with the necessary assistance [2].

Another effective means of maintaining an active lifestyle for older people is the organization of communication clubs that take into account the individual interests of older people. Communication clubs, as a form of social service, contribute to the formation of favorable situations, the establishment of friendly contacts, meeting the cultural needs of older people, creating conditions for maintaining their potential.

The presented social and cultural activities for the elderly are successfully developing in Russia. In addition, on the example of Belgorod region, we can consider how it implemented for representatives of this category.

The program «Improvement of conditions for self-realization of elderly citizens» approved by the decision of the session of the Council of deputies of November 28, 2006 in the city of Belgorod to ensure a systematic approach in the organization of leisure of elderly people [11, с. 159]. The successful implementation of the program’s activities helps older people to take a fresh look at themselves, their relationships with loved ones and their role in society.

Often it is in old age that people turn to creativity for the first time or return to amateur classes left in the past, and begins to visit a variety of interest club.

Therefore, in the house of culture "Youth" the city of Stary Oskol about 20 years there is a club for veterans and disabled people «Rodnichok». In addition, for more than 20 years there is a chess club, where chess and checkers tournaments held. Traditional meetings of veterans and disabled people held in the club «Veteran», where they celebrate anniversaries, celebrate Golden weddings. Among veterans games, quizzes and competitions for the best performance of ditties, songs, and poems are organized.

For many years at the regional house of culture village Volokonovka there is a club «Meeting», where gatherings «For a healthy lifestyle», dance evenings «The sounds of a brass band» are held. Citizens older than fifty years engaged in the study of ballroom dancing, listening to wind music.

Clubs «War veteran» and «Search», operating in the Krasnensky district, united students and participants of the great Patriotic war. By communicating with young people, they contribute to their moral and Patriotic education, and the younger generation, in turn, helps older people to master various modern technologies that allow them to adapt more successfully in society.

We can say that in the Belgorod region the implementation of socio-cultural adaptation of older people carried out through the introduction of new forms and methods of work, which aimed at improving the level of social adaptation of older people in society and reducing social tension among this category of population.

One of the significant methods of stimulating the social activity of an elderly person is adaptation to the information and educational space, which helps to increase the level of information literacy among older citizens. The education of the elderly not aimed at obtaining a profession; it refers to non-formal education, which has the goal of individual development, communication of people, and preservation of their active life position. Participation in educational events helps elderly people to find new landmarks in the changing modern life.

Thus, the program «Municipal management and development of a solidary society» the subprogram «Support of social activity of senior citizens of the city of Belgorod» created in Belgorod. Within this direction of the program, the University of the «Third Age» was organized. Studying at the University helps older people to establish new connections, expand contacts. This category of citizens receive theoretical and practical training at the faculties of «Information Technology», «Social Activity» and «English».

Another most significant method of stimulating the social activity of older people is the occupation of a socio-political activity. This implies the expression of the level of individual participation in the improvement of political relations, institutions, institutions, as well as the life of society. For example, doing volunteer work, taking care of homeless animals, landscaping the area around the house, planting flowers and trees, participating in elections, political demonstrations, election campaigns, collective appeals.

All of the above provides an opportunity for older people to feel able to control their lives, to become necessary and useful citizens of public relations, not to become consumers of social services and assistance, but active organizers and activists of various communities, clubs and councils.

Thus, older people experience a number of problems in the process of social adaptation. This is the deterioration of health and reduced social activity; termination of compulsory professional activity and loss of communication with the workforce; a sharp change in social status; limited circle of communication; loneliness; lack of interesting social work; insufficient financial situation. In order successfully overcome the above difficulties, elderly citizens need to maintain an active life position through cultural and leisure activities and participation in educational programs for the elderly.

References:

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