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ELDERLY PEOPLE EDUCATION IN THE CONTEXT OF MENTAL HEALTH
V. A. Rozanov Т. Е. Reitarova
In the recent decades, most western countries were forced to solve social, economic and psychological problems caused by demographic modernization which is, in essence, the transition from high birth and high mortality rates to low birth and mortality rates, which inevitably leads to aging of population. Russia and Ukraine can be stated to be moving in the same direction.
Changing society structure sets new tasks. On the one hand, it would entail ways of increasing elderly people’s economic activities, protecting their overall health and maintaining their cognitive potential. On the other hand, more opportunities for closer interaction between younger and older generations should be provided. The latter is the most essential humanitarian mission as in the modern world saturated with exceptionally fast developing information technologies the older generation, who does not keep up with this development, loses its function of transgeneration transfer of knowledge and skills. Though not the only one, it is a substantial reason why the gap between generations becomes too broad at times. Education for the elderly seems to be universal and, in fact, the best instrument in resolving the issue of maintaining economic and social activity of this population group. However, as we see it, educational bodies specializing in this field fail to pay enough attention to the aspect of how educational system can help improve communication between younger and older generations. What we are trying to emphasize is that the teaching staff for the ‘third age’ universities would be made up of younger, even the youngest, teachers as much as possible. That would allow the youngsters and the elderly to better understand each other in the modern society. Although the analysis of the current situation reflects this trend being set in place, it has not yet become a widespread practice. What is more, following this trend actively and consciously, turning it into a sustainable tradition, is closely connected with the primary concept of the latest times - that of the mental health.
The mental health concept was first introduced in the 50s when purely medical health model was officially substituted with the new approaches that viewed health as a broader condition rather than a simple absence of illnesses or disability. The key point of the modern mental health concept is that disorders and illnesses as well as wellness are not the extremes of population distribution but rather relatively independent dimensions. This leads to the conclusion that having certain dysfunctional psychological traits, character accentuation or even being diagnosed with a mental disorder can be attended with a quite acceptable level of mental health. And vice versa - being exempt from some disorders or diagnosed illnesses does not necessarily mean that an individual is enjoying good mental health. The latter is directly linked with the definition of the mental health which reads ‘the state of wellbeing when a person is able to realize her faculties, to cope with life stresses, to work productively and to contribute to the life of her community’.
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Mental illnesses and disorders are conditions which satisfy certain diagnostic criteria worked out by psychiatry during the many years of its practice. They happen really rarely, and almost in every human community the frequency of serious mental disorders does not exceed several percents. The mental health problems are seen way too differently. These emotional and psychological difficulties that lead to distress and hamper people from functioning normally in their everyday life (manifestations of depression, anxiety, addictions, chronic lassitude, ‘burn-out’, subjective sensation of stress). Such manifestations are very widespread and to estimate the prevalence of these problems in a population special research is needed.
Thus, when we are talking about the population’s mental health, we imply the statistics of mental disorders and data from epidemiologic researches. Whereas talking about the mental health of an individual would entail the compilation of different notions, such as vitality, adaptive potential, stress-resilience, ability to overcome hardships, emotional stability, etc.
Despite the fact that mental health definitions, key ideas and modern formulas recently came from the Western tradition, we should not think that this is a brand-new concept. Still, mental health concepts, though seen from a slightly different angle and called differently, existed in various civilizations (Ancient Greece, India, Slavic ethnos) and were closely connected with religious traditions and the notion of “soul” or “psyche”. More contemporary views in our cultural tradition are related to such notions as adaptive capacity of the individual, personality potential, psychological adaptation and so on. It is worth mentioning that everywhere in the developed world public health specialists are concerned with the increase of mental health problems, especially among teenagers and adolescence. These problems include depression, aggression, antisocial behavior, self-harm and many others. The problems are aggravated with age as a certain complex of disorders, especially manifestations of pessimism, loss of interest to live, cognitive deficiency, memory disorders, and difficulties with concentration and so on. In the most unfavorable cases development of early dementia happens. A number of researches prove that behavioral and psychological problems experienced in childhood and adolescence are correlated with unfavorable development of mental health at the old age on psychological, social and biological levels (so called bio-psycho-social triad).
Contemporary view on positive mental health, ways of its development from early age and ways of its preservation to the later periods in life suggest a whole set of questions. The mental health determinates comprise biological (genetic and development factors), psychological (temperament, character, personality) and social (society structure, level of social inequality, availability of social support) factors. The leading harmful factor that worsens mental health of both nations and individuals is psycho-social stress which is understood as the translation of negative social circumstances to biological mechanisms with the mediation of psychological factors. All these elements of the model are interconnected and interact with each other in a complex manner.
The system of lifelong learning as a means of spreading the latest knowledge about mental health among the general public is a valuable, though not enough actively used, resource. General perception of mental health in the society
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is rather superficial, associated with medical aspect of the problem in the first place (psychiatry, as a rule, which is highly stigmatized) and has not yet become a real means of preserving and improving mental health on the population level. At the same time, the need for increasing awareness concerning mental health and ways of reaching it (healthy dietary habits, physical and intellectual activities, relaxation, emotional relief, cognitive capacities training, optimistic attitude, mindfulness, spirituality) is extremely high. Summing up, we can state that including knowledge and practical recommendations about positive mental health into the life-long learning system is a vital and urgent task. The best way to transfer this kind of knowledge would be through young teachers who themselves, it goes without saying, need systematic and professional training particularly in this emerging field.
At the time being, an international project 1aimed at solving these tasks is entering its active phase. Several universities of Sweden* 2, Ukraine3 and Russia4 are involved with this project. The project’s success will in many aspects be determined by the level of involvement of young teachers (teaching various subjects) into the additional trainings on mental health issues. There are rather negative anticipations regarding the global mental health state and according to the WHO mental disorders and neuropsychiatric diseases will become the reason for significant economic and human loss in the coming years. Taking action now, we create the opportunities for improving or at least preventing deterioration of the situation in the future.
“From Baltic to Black sea: lifelong education and mental health promotion” 2012-2015.
2 Karolinska Institutet (Stockholm, Sweden)
3 Odessa National Mechnikov University (Odessa, Ukraine); Human Ecological Health, NGO (Odessa, Ukraine); Tavrida Vernadskiy National University (Simferopol, Ukraine)
4 Research Institute for Social, Economical and Pedagogical problems of continuous education, Pushkin Leningrad State University (Saint-Petersburg, Russia)
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