The elderly age group needs particular support in preventing development of depressive symptoms, among others, due to the prospect of passing. This group is heterogenous in terms of characteristics of ways of spending leisure time, which, as an important aspect of everyday life affecting the quality of interpersonal relationships and well-being, might be related to the level of their depressive symptoms. The aim of this study was to find out whether participation in University of Third Age (UTA; leisure time spending directed at personal development) activities versus being a Nursing Home resident (NH; leisure time spending, directed at compensation of difficulties associated to the aging process) may differentiate elderly people in terms of the level of depression taking into account their optimism and acceptance of passing. The study was paper-pencil questionnaire-based, conducted on a sample of people above the age of 59: participants of UTA (N=48) and NH (N=54). In the UTA group, consistently for all levels of acceptance of passing, the higher the level of optimism, the lower the depressive symptoms. However, for the NH group, the higher the acceptance of passing, the lower the role of optimism in predicting depressive symptoms.
The following article presents vocational development as a lifelong process and its connection to self-help via the European Qualification ramework and personal development. Instances of self-help strategies to augment vocational development are displayed, followed by a growing body of interdisciplinary evidence which brings new light on the problems that occur with self-help. It shows that self-help might help as well as harm. Finally, it brings attention to a demand for further studies about the threats associated with self-help and a need for a deeper understanding of its underlying mechanisms.
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