Profiguration, Active Ageing, and Creativity: Keys for Quality of Life and Overcoming Ageism

Abstract

This article is based on qualitative analysis of interviews and focus groups conducted with participants enrolled in the Senior Programme of the University of Lleida, the City Council of Lleida, and care homes, as well as professional workers in the field of gerontology and related areas. It presents the analysis of interviews focused on the participants’ life trajectories, ageing, creativity, self-perception, and quality of life. The study aimed to examine how creativity influences the maintenance and improvement of a sense of wellbeing in older adults, and to reflect on how the perception of old age and of oneself changes through creative activity and active engagement across the life span. The article is framed within a new concept in sociology and the social sciences—‘profiguration’, which is the key element in the promotion and strengthening of intergenerational interdependence, education, wellbeing, social participation, and active ageing.