The concept of successful ageing in wartime: A review of Western scientific sources

Abstract

Preserving the full life of an elderly person as the most vulnerable category of the population in times of armed conflict raises many methodological, theoretical, and practical issues for scholars. The article is an attempt at a problematic and reflective analysis of the heuristic nature of the concept of successful ageing for the study of ageing of elderly Ukrainians in the context of the war with Russia. The paper presents a problem-oriented review of contemporary Western literature on successful ageing. In addition to the basic empirical and theoretical works, a significant part of the theoretical analysis is based on the results of the most significant meta-analytical studies on this topic. The methodology of problem-oriented and integrative analysis was used to determine which problem areas of the concept of successful ageing can contribute to its study in wartime. The potential and limitations of the modern concept of successful ageing are considered. Eight problem areas of this concept are presented, which reveal certain contradictions, debatable issues, and gaps, which are simultaneously directions for the development of both the concept itself and its research in the context of war. Among them: vagueness of the criteria for successful ageing and its dilution with similar concepts; interaction of biomedical and psychosocial contexts of successful ageing; limits of responsibility for the success of ageing in the context of the “person – society” dichotomy; socio-structural inequalities between older people and the inability to age equally “successfully”; discrepancies between subjective and objective indicators of successful ageing; dominance of the Western model of successful ageing and levelling of its cultural specificity; integration of individual, social and scientific conceptualization of successful ageing. The author analyses the most promising theoretical and methodological concepts and theories of successful ageing that are most relevant to the problem of ageing in war. The literature review presented in the article will help to draw attention to the problem of improving and preserving the full life of an elderly person in the context of armed conflict. The results of the research will be useful to scholars and practitioners for the further development of programmes to protect the mental and physical health of older people in war