A position paper: Creativity, older people and health

Abstract

One of the most significant features of society in the 21st century is the tendency for people in the later stages of their lives to want to play a more participative role. Seeking to be creative, offering community leadership, taking a second career are just some examples of what is becoming commonplace. However, one of the biggest problems we face is that those who are less visible in the community, such as older and retired people, or people living in isolated rural areas, usually have fewer opportunities to meet people and thus can easily find themselves disengaged from society. This can frustrate their desires to participate in society. Many may then become depressed and lonely, lacking the motivation to become re-engaged with their neighbourhood. They then gradually lose their identity as valuable and valued members of society, and often their health begins to suffer as well, producing personal distress and imposing additional demands on health care. This position paper proposes a qualitative study of an intervention aimed at improving the lives of older people in terms of issues raised by the literature, and describes appropriate methodology and methods for answering these questions, which we see as essentially educational questions within the framework of lifelong learning.