What is the recipe for a happy retirement?

Independence, identity, planning and staying socially connected says Anastasiia Fedeeva, Postgraduate Researcher, from Northumbria University

For the last two and a half years, I have been working on a PhD that aims to promote wellbeing and physical activity in retirement. Over this time some people have asked me whether I ever felt too young to understand what retired people might need to live their lives better. I must admit that is a fair question but not just because of the potential age difference with my target population.

 

First, before designing and implementing any initiatives to promote wellbeing or physical activity, it is recommended that you have a good knowledge of the people that you want to help; their needs, preferences, and feelings (Laverack, 2017). Furthermore, retirement itself is a unique and complex phenomena. Retirement experiences vary considerably between individuals and are influenced by a variety of contextual factors, for example the characteristics of a job, personal health, social networks, or whether a spouse is working (Wang, 2007). Therefore, it is important to understand the gaps in what can predict positive retirement (Amabile, 2019; Van Der Zwaan et al., 2019). One way to explore retirement more comprehensively is by conducting qualitative research to find out about the experiences of retirees, as this allows us to identify the key ways in which people adapt to a successful retirement in connection with individual and contextual factors. That’s why I spent several months last year conducting focus groups and individual interviews in order to better understand psychological predictors of retirement adjustment such as people’s attitudes, feelings, and behaviours.

 

To understand what is so good and bad about retirement, it is important to recognise what people leave behind after quitting their jobs. Work brings a lot of positives to our lives and this is not only limited to our finances. Among the most common benefit is the feeling of belongingness and connectedness with our colleagues. Retired people can be very concerned about losing valuable connections from their previous employment. For some, work may be the main source of social interaction, and those people might feel particularly vulnerable in retirement. 

 

Another positive aspect of work is in giving us an identity. If you ask people: “Who are they?”, very often the first answer would be related to the person’s work role. As people leave employment, they can no longer define themselves by their professions, and it brings the question: “Who are they now?” Although work identity can be substituted with other roles, such as those that are family or hobby-related, this process might take some time and individual effort. For those with a particularly strong attachment to work, such identity transition can be very challenging. 

 

However, one benefit associated with retirement that many look forward to, is increased freedom and independence. Most are excited to have the opportunity to finally live in accordance with their own preferences and choices, free from work-associated obligations and routines. This desire for independence seems to develop beyond just freedom from work commitments. Retired people value independence in other areas of life as well, and sometimes this even takes precedence over the importance of social connections. One reason can be that people of retirement age have already had all variety of commitments, including work and family responsibilities, and retirement is viewed as a relief from that. Another possible reason is that retirement is seen by many as the beginning of ‘old age’. As individuals acknowledge age-related health decline, they start appreciating physical and mental independence more than ever.

 

Additionally, some recently retired people see creating a new routine as another restriction to their freedom but planning day-to-day activities can be beneficial for wellbeing in the long-run. Planning seems to enable a better use of this increased freedom by helping retirees to participate in different activities of their choice. Thus, establishing new routines can be remarkably empowering as they foster feelings of control, sense of purpose and self-value, that “I’ve got my life back!”. 

 

As such, regardless of the differences in experiences and expectations, social connectedness, independence, successful identity transition, and planning activities in retirement appeared to be important for the vast majority of my participants. These findings supported and added to our ideas on how to promote healthy retirement. 

 

Personally, I feel privileged to have shared in the stories of retired adults. This has made me feel much closer to them – they aren’t ‘just participants’ anymore but real people who have gone through life’s joys and struggles. I have realised even more that despite the generational, cultural, and life experience gaps, we might just be looking for the same things that contribute to our happiness and wellbeing after all.

 

  

References:

1. Laverack, G. (2017). The challenge of behaviour change and health promotion. Challenges, 8(2), 25. Retrieved from: https://www.mdpi.com/2078-1547/8/2/25
2. Wang, M. (2007). Profiling retirees in the retirement transition and adjustment process: Examining the longitudinal change patterns of retirees’ psychological well-being. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92, 455-474. Retrieved from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17371091 
3. Amabile, T. M. (2019). Understanding Retirement Requires Getting Inside People’s Stories: A Call for More Qualitative Research. Work, Aging and Retirement. Retrieved from: https://academic.oup.com/workar/article/5/3/207/5521007
4. Van der Zwaan, G. L., Hengel, K. M. O., Sewdas, R., de Wind, A., Steenbeek, R., van der Beek, A. J., & Boot, C. R. (2019). The role of personal characteristics, work environment and context in working beyond retirement: a mixed-methods study. International archives of occupational and environmental health, 92(4), 535-549. Retrieved from: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00420-018-1387-3
   

Image:

1. "Your father's opted out of a dignified retirement." by Grizelda Grizlingham via University of Kent, British Cartoon Archive (Reference number: GGD1456, Published by: Spectator, 02 Mar 2018, with thanks to Copyright holder: Grizelda Grizlingham): https://archive.cartoons.ac.uk/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=GGD1456&pos=23

Monopoly money, pitching to the converted, and sending Mr Grumpy away happy: doing home and healthy ageing research differently

Dr Philip Hodgson, Senior Research Assistant, Northumbria University

Endings are rubbish, right?  Whether it be a great novel, play, film, TV series – there’s always that feeling that no matter how things are pulled together, it will never be as good as you have pictured in your imagination.  And then, you know, it just ends…

It was perhaps with this in mind that we decided to take a different approach in the last of our four workshops on home and healthy ageing.  Rather than guest speakers being invited to share their knowledge and prompt discussion, the project team attempted to summarise and pitch their ideas for future research back to the group (think Dragons’ Den).  This proved to be challenging, as the previous sessions had been so rich that even synthesising them into brief slides was difficult, never mind placing them in a strategic context for the participants to critique and reflect upon.  Yet, three key themes were identified.  These were in addition to the concept of a ‘home’ being more than just bricks and mortar but personal/psychological, physical and social/environment space(s) – an idea that we used as a starting block in week one and illustrated below.

More than just bricks and mortar
'Home' illustration used in the seminars 

The key themes were:

• Policies and contexts: not only a tension between housing and health policies, but also the need to consider market and narrative factors influencing housing and health decisions;
• The life course approach: the need to think about housing as an individual pathway, in which preventative measures and services are considered before crisis point;
• Transitions and soft services: the need for support to be available as and when people experience key housing and life changes, such as reduced physical health, retirement, or the loss of support networks and being able to navigate different services on offer.

However, this is where we’d like to leave you with a cliff hanger: rather than going through each of themes in-depth (fans of this series will have to wait for our spin off…  er, research papers for that!), we’d instead like to reflect on our process at this stage.  These sessions took a slightly different approach as, rather than being a series of open seminars with presentations that people could dip in and out of, we invited several key individuals to attend each session in turn.  The reasons for this were many, but primarily we wanted to ensure that a diverse range of backgrounds were represented throughout (housing providers, architects, academics, local authority workers, homelessness workers, etc.) to go on a learning journey with us as a research team.  This meant that by the time we reached the final session, there was enough of a shared understanding that we could make the most of the group’s commitment to the project – we would be actually able to start to pin down quite complex concepts, practical issues and, hopefully, future projects.

We tried out different formats to structure the discussions: from world cafés, to games (with Monopoly money!) with researchers pitching ideas to mock panels, which worked to various degrees but always ensured a lively debate.

Do not pass Go. Do not collect £200
Pitching ideas with Monopoly money 

There were, of course, some difficulties.  As I’m sure everyone reading this will know, it is a lot to ask of a practitioner to take one morning out of their schedule, let alone for four seminars.  As a result, engagement had to remain a constant focus and I spent much time nervously lingering by the registration desk hoping for just a few more name badges to disappear before we started!  It was also a challenge in terms of managing the conversations during the sessions: you want all voices to be heard in such a diverse group but we all needed to be pulling in the same direction by the end.

Yet, by the final session, the rewards were immense.  Not only were we able to pitch ideas to a group who had already undergone some of the same learning as us, but this gave everybody the confidence to relate the complex theoretical issues to their own practice (allowing us to capture the breadth of what was possible).  It allowed us to discuss concrete projects, and leave the session with a sense of trust that networks were in place to actually deliver on them.  Perhaps most importantly we found that, what started as a broad idea, was something of relevance across the housing and health sectors.  Even the grumpiest of the project group (naming no names) left the day with a spring in their step.  For that alone, everyone who attended deserves some massive thanks…

So, who needs endings, when we can all just sign up to the sequel?

To be continued…

Photo 2: By James Petts from London, England (Monopoly) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Beyond ownership: a lifetime of housing and health

Posted by Natalie Forster (Fuse Senior Research Assistant) and Philip Hodgson (Senior Research Assistant), Northumbria University

Last month saw the second ‘Home and Health’ research interest group meeting hosted by Northumbria University and Fuse (supported through the Fuse pump-priming fund). Building on the key message that a greater emphasis is needed on understanding the relationship between housing and health – particularly in the absence of strong public health messages on the subject (such as 5-a-day) – the focus here was on good examples of practice.

It's a race to own a “forever home” but circumstances change with age

Participating in these sessions is continually challenging us to rethink the values that we attach to the idea of ‘home’ in society, and the implications this has for supporting people through housing choices and transitions. The narrative surrounding housing is often singular and fixed – the race to find and own a “forever home”, relocate to a bungalow in retirement and then manage the difficulties of ageing-in-place as ill health and social isolation increase in later life. Yet the reality painted by the examples here posed a more complex problem: how do we identify and sustain a model of housing that allows our homes to reflect and adapt to the wide range of transitions experienced by individuals? The services presented - Safe and Healthy Homes (North Tyneside Council); Housing for older people (Derwentside Homes); Wellbeing and mental health service for adults (Crisis); and Wellbeing for Life Newcastle’s Age-friendly Cities - all reflected the huge range of resources and circumstances people bring to their homes, and the need to be flexible in supporting them. Yet questions remain around how public health approaches can best prepare people to make decisions about the housing which will best support their health in later life, before a crisis occurs. One idea from the meeting was to assess future housing needs alongside the NHS health check.

The second ‘Home and Health’ research interest group meeting

Just as the much-publicised difficulties for younger people to get on the “property ladder” are prompting a shift to much less-settled housing patterns in that age group, the transitions faced in ageing are varied enough to suggest the need for more person-centred thinking. Just as retirement and later life can threaten some with social isolation and ill health, for others it can be a period of vibrant reconnection with their communities. Once again, a lifecourse approach which encourages people to engage with these transitions before they occur (e.g. groups organised by employers to maintain social contact after retirement) may help give them the agency to maintain a healthy home environment throughout their lives. Innovations are emerging which propose alternatives to traditional living arrangements (for example, housing schemes where university students live alongside older people for free, in exchange for undertaking voluntary work). The first Home and Health session illustrated how the lack of equity held by future generations can be problematic, as this cannot then be leveraged to pay for care later on. However, discussion in the second meeting prompted thought about whether present forms of home ownership (and even home design) might be too inflexible, and whether other more innovative practices could allow people a more fluid approach to tenancy.

In focusing on preparing people to make informed housing decisions, it is important not to emphasise individual responsibility at the expense of addressing structural inequalities in the choices people have available to them. Those living in poverty are likely to experience an impoverished range of choices. People are often segregated in housing according to their age and socio-economic status and some groups, such as people experiencing homelessness may ‘settle’ for housing that is inadequate for their needs, as they feel they have no alternative. This led to a ‘lightbulb moment’ for further research from group members – the need to map out the different routes people take through housing options over the course of their lives, and the menu of choices available to them depending on their circumstances at different points in time. Perhaps this will allow services to enable people to have a different form of ownership in housing – the ownership of the housing journey through the transition of our lives, rather than simply owning a building.


Photo attribution: "Home, health and happiness / Bile Bean Manufacturing Co". See page for author [CC BY 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Alcohol use in retirement: A silent epidemic?

Posted by Roxanne Armstrong-Moore, Fuse PhD student, University of Sunderland

I was on a course recently and someone mentioned that her parents, since retiring were all about the “three Gs – Gardening, Grandchildren and the Grape”. Laughter ensued from other colleagues, then a sadness dawned on me – she explained that the drinking had gone beyond a social drink with friends and was ingrained in their lives, the glass of wine was getting earlier and earlier and functioning was getting less. It made me think, why is this acceptable once someone has left work? Of course, individuals have worked hard all their lives and they deserve some respite – but should this come at a cost of lessened functioning, higher chance of diseases, premature death and breakdowns in the relationships that have been nurtured over a lifetime?

My PhD aims to develop a strategy for those in, or about to enter retirement, to avoid what seems to be a downward spiral into ill health.

In what is a relatively scarce area of literature, myself and my supervisory team have begun this task by conducting a systematic review of current literature. This is to investigate what we currently know about current interventions and how they can help older individuals to reduce negative effects of alcohol. Six papers were included, all of which were in the United States. Individuals in this age group appear to respond well to interventions, with all interventions showing improvements (a reduction in drinking or, in one case study, improvements in quality of life) in at least one area of alcohol consumption or frequency of consumption. These findings were presented at the European Health Psychology Conference in Aberdeen (2016).

This scarce amount of literature available on interventions shows that older people are currently being neglected in our field. Healthcare professionals may feel it is not their duty to step in and “ruin the fun” but - with predictions that by 2050, 22% of the world population will be aged 60 and over, and that a significant amount of these older individuals will have a “pattern or level of drinking which places them at harm” (Wadd & Galvani, 2014, p. 656)1 - something needs to be done.

But what can be done? Don’t they deserve to have a drink? Are we spoiling their fun? Would they even want an intervention and how would this work? This is where the hard work begins…

Older people are more susceptible to the detrimental effects of alcohol, as tolerance to alcohol lowers with age. Drinking more than five standard drinks per week has been found to quadruple the risk of developing psychiatric problems including depression and memory loss (Stevenson, 2005)2. Cognitive impairment as a result of alcohol use can lead to an increased likelihood of falls, and because older people often have weaker bones, this can lead to hip fractures - one of the highest causes of death in the older population (Mukamal et al., 2004; Merrick et al., 2008)3.4.

While much research has focused on students and younger adults, little has explored the drinking of older individuals. The evidence in this field is growing, however it is still not adequate to inform an intervention in the area.

So, why retirement? Evidence suggests that those who have recently entered retirement are statistically and significantly more likely to drink almost every day compared to those who are still in work, or those who have been retired for a longer time. At the moment, there is limited support and guidance offered by employers, government and the third sector to those who are retiring in the future. The “Easing the Transition” report from the Drink Wise - Age Well project (Holley-Moore & Beach, 2016)5 suggests that for some individuals, this can be a negative time marred with a loss of purpose, periods of ill health or financial difficulties.

So this is where my PhD comes in, at the moment very little qualitative data exists in this area. We are hoping to interview individuals – not only those who have retired recently and those who are due to retire, but also their employers. This data will then be analysed to establish core themes using a framework approach and fitted to an intervention map to really find a tool that could be used to help people going through this (at times) difficult transition.

From data collection, we will use the findings to begin to develop an intervention that can be implemented in the workplace, or after leaving work. This will be the first protocol of its type that uses the information gathered from those who are going through this transition and will hopefully ease the transition between working and retirement and reduce the growing burden on public health.


References:

1. Wadd, S., & Galvani, S. (2014). Working with Older People with Alcohol Problems: Insight from Specialist Substance Misuse Professionals and their Service Users. Social Work Education, 33(5), 656–669. http://doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2014.919076
2. Stevenson, J. S. (2005). Alcohol use, misuse, abuse, and dependence in later adulthood. Annual Review of Nursing Research, 23, 245–80. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16350768
3. Mukamal, K. J., Cushman, M., Mittleman, M. A., Tracy, R. P., & Siscovick, D. S. (2004). Alcohol consumption and inflammatory markers in older adults: the Cardiovascular Health Study. Atherosclerosis, 173(1), 79–87. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2003.10.011
4. Merrick, E. L., Horgan, C. M., Hodgkin, D., Garnick, D. W., Houghton, S. F., Panas, L., … Blow, F. C. (2008). Unhealthy Drinking Patterns in Older Adults: Prevalence and Associated Characteristics. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 56(2), 214–223. http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-5415.2007.01539.x
5. Holley-Moore, G., & Beach, B. (n.d.). Drink Wise, Age Well: Alcohol Use and the Over 50s in the UK. Retrieved from www.drinkwiseagewell.org.uk

Photo attribution:

• 'Anonymous Drinker' by David Goehring via Flickr.com © 2013: https://www.flickr.com/photos/carbonnyc/8686574743
• 'Conundrum’ by Robert S. Donovan via Flickr.com © 2010: https://www.flickr.com/photos/10687935@N04/4854800303