Event news

Today, Russia ranks 78th in the world in terms of living standards of the third generation people. The comprehensiveness of the older generation's involvement in society is the most vital criteria of the state's civilization. People of pre-retirement and retirement age are persons with special needs because they face a risk of age discrimination with de facto exclusion from employment.

In 2014, an international scientific and educational laboratory to improving technologies for the well-being of older people was established on the basis of Tomsk Polytechnic University. The results of the laboratory studies showed that 37% of respondents want to continue working. Among non-working pensioners, 65% are satisfied with their position. The well-being of older people is more related to their social well-being – the assessment of life prospects, emotional mood, self-assessment of health and involvement in social relations. Considering the prospects of their future, they believe that the new pension legislation will have a negative impact on the Russian economy (55%) and on their families lives (66.8%). "An important indicator of the social activity of older people is their involvement in social practices – interaction with various organizations, the use of their services, volunteer activity, mentoring, helping relatives, political activity). The most actively involved in volunteer activities are working pensioners (22%)", – states a representative of the scientific and educational laboratory.

Professor Andrei Soloviev spoke about the positive and negative roles of the social environment in poor mental health conditions of elderly people. The expert noted that today the age of involution in psychiatry and psychology is equal to 45-60 years. "Often there are difficulties emerging in diagnosing mental changes of the elderly. Unobtrusive initial symptoms; slow, gradual, but progressive development; neurological symptoms; memory problems with the inability to accurately assess the condition; the "scope" of changes – from a slight decrease in the level of personality to a deep collapse of mental activity; the presence of a special socio-psychological situation in which an ageing person is – all these are the factors that make the identification of mental disorders difficult," says the Professor.

The event was organized by the Ministry of labour and social protection of the Russian Federation, St. Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology, Expoforum-International company.