AD ALTA
JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
We cannot deny that experiencing of faith is related to a better
health condition of individuals, and it has a positive influence on
the physical and psychological features of adult peoples`
personalities. Levin (2001, in: Stríženec, 2007) formulated seven
principles of the relationship between faith and health:
Involvement in the religious life of the Church influences
peoples` lifestyle.
Regular participation in masses brings along social support
by co-religionists and support of behaviour strengthening
their health.
The positive emotional lives of believers (concerning their
participation in masses and prayers) influence their
physiological processes.
There is a certain similarity between the set of religious
beliefs and the set of health recommendations.
Religious belief leads to positive thinking (hope,
optimism).
Mystic experience activates the healing life energy.
Experimentally verified positive influence of prayers for
distant ill people arises an open question about God’s
direct intervention.
Religiosity has a positive influence on peoples` health condition.
Thus, religious educational activities are significant for seniors’
target group in residential facilities because they frequently
suffer from various health disadvantages.
Kaplan, Berkman (2019) include these aspects into the benefits
of religious activities:
religion supports life approach that is full of hope,
older people find the meaning of their lives in religion.
Subsequently, this attitude influences their health habits,
social and family relationships,
religion represents a way how to cope with illness or
disability,
religion supports the community way of life, and it helps to
increase the number of social contacts (Kaplan, Berkman,
2019)
However, we have to admit that seniors’ possibilities in the
residential environment are limited in religious life participation.
Therefore, it is crucial to identify such options that residential
facilities provide to seniors to participate in spiritual educational
activities.
Participation in masses
It represents the fundamental expression of religious life. In
many facilities, there are regular masses or celebrations of
Sacraments. In other facilities, seniors are allowed to visit the
local church and participate in the mass. The priest’s sermon
fulfils the educational character in this context. The priest can
influence on the believers and motivate them to experience
spiritual life more deeply.
Watching religious programmes on TV
In residential conditions, seniors can watch TV programmes. In
this context, we can mention spiritual programmes – discussions,
documentary films, religious films or television “spiritual
advisory service “where seniors can find answers to their
questions about the Church’s teachings (TV LUX, 2020).
Spiritual dialogue / confession
A spiritual dialogue or confession can have the form of advising
or personal accompanying of seniors. In this way, older people
can feel the closeness, interest and willingness to listen to their
problems, life experience or circumstances. Mainly for seniors in
residential facilities, these tools represent efficient prevention
against hopelessness and isolation.
Common prayers
In facilities for seniors provided by the Church, there is a usual
practice to have common prayers with clients (often with
workers too). Reading the Bible or regular prayers can be an
efficient tool for fulfilling seniors’ spiritual needs and,
subsequently, increasing their quality of life.
However, residential seniors’ participation in religious
organisations’ activities represents a significant challenge in this
context. Kozerska (2016) writes about their importance
concerning seniors` experiencing of their faith. She says that
“the role of religious organisations represents a fundamental part
in older peoples` lives. It is a strong argument that the
transcendent life dimension acquires much greater importance in
older age“(Kozerska, 2016, p. 7). Przygoda (2009) emphasises
that religious organisations do not only read biblical texts and
prayers. For example, many parishes organise concerts, lectures
or even sports activities or language courses. Moreover, many
seniors are members of parish singing choirs or other leisure
clubs. According to Grotowska (2013), it is evident that seniors’
participation in religious organisations can positively influence
their social participation in society. She divides religious
organisations into (1) organisations aimed at celebrating masses,
(2) charity religious organisations, (3) charity religious
organisations (outside the Church) and (4) organisations with
religious bases aimed at the development of leisure activities and
other competences of believers (Grotowska, 2013).
It is crucial for workers dealing with seniors in residential
facilities to find new opportunities to involve their clients more
in religious organisations’ activities. They should also find ways
of cooperation with these subjects directly in the residential
facility for seniors.
Further education is crucial during professional life, but no less
significant is education after leaving to retirement. Whether
seniors live in the home or residential environment, we cannot
forget that they need to develop themselves through further
learning. The residential environment has a little higher potential
because longterm work with seniors and immense control of
their lives “from outside “can enable leisure education to become
part of their ageing in a much broader context. Veteška (2017)
defines four fundamental pillars of andragogical work with
seniors which we need to apply in the environment we write
about in our article. These pillars are education, activation,
animation and counselling. Thus, we can see that education has a
primary place in developing older peoples` personalities.
Together with other mentioned pillars, education should enrich
their lives. We think that the inclusion of 21st-century topics into
senior education in residential facilities will bring along higher
participation of these seniors in social life, contributing to a
better quality of their lives.
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