Promoting Active Aging Through University Programs for Older Adults

Abstract

Throughout history, formal education has been “age-based,” in the sense that primary, secondary, further, and higher education have been planned and implemented with the main objective of preparing citizens for working life. However, gerontological research on cognitive plasticity in the latter half of the 20th century provided evidence of learning potential throughout the lifespan and into old age. The II International Plan of Action on Aging recognizes the importance of older adults in contributing to social and economic development, remaining active and having the right to benefit from lifelong learning (LLL) policies. Consequently, universities have been opened up to older adults, and university programs for older adults have been developed. Our general hypothesis is that those older adults who follow a university program will improve the core of active aging, which involves cognitive, emotional, and social factors. The quasiexperimental group was 82 older adults who followed the University Program for Older Adults at the Autonomous University of Madrid from 2007 to 2010. These were then compared with a control group (N = 76) over the same period. Pre/post comparisons show that participants obtain significant benefits, attributable to the program, in that they maintain their cognitive performance evaluated through the Digit-Symbol Test, their health (assessed through the number of illnesses reported), and their level of activity (information-seeking and social activities), and increase their level of positive affect. At the end of the Program, significantly more of those who enrolled on it were classified as “active agers,” compared to the control group.