Retiree Wellbeing Study – Results are in!
I have now completed my Master of Applied Positive Psychology research project through CQUniversity thanks to the generous support of many Victorian retirees.
My study investigated the impact that COVID-19 has had on retirement goals, plans, and dreams and how this influenced the wellbeing of our retiree community in Victoria. Participation was through an online survey.
For a summary of the results, below is the “plain English” version! Happy reading…
Anna Lawton
Plain English Statement of results of the research study, October 2021
Anna Lawton, anna.lawton@cqumail.com
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted many from being able to plan and achieve their lifestyle goals, especially retirees. Retirees tend to have more time than most for leisurely activities, however many of their planned activities may have changed or been delayed due to lockdowns and measures designed to halt the spread of the virus over the last 18 months. Changing goals because these are considered unachievable can have a negative impact on wellbeing, however factors that potentially support wellbeing include finding meaning in life, derived from various sources, as well as being able to set goals, adjust goals as needed and work towards desired ends – a concept called planfulness. This study explored the impact of disruption of lifestyle goals on retiree-wellbeing, examining whether sources of meaning in life and planfulness predicted retiree-wellbeing.
A sample of 141 retirees participated in an online survey, all from the state of Victoria in Australia. The survey ran for 6-weeks in July 2021, coinciding with Victoria’s fifth and sixth state-wide lockdowns. Three psychological scales were used as part of the questionnaire – one measured levels of meaningfulness in participants’ lives, a second scale measured a person’s thought processes around how they think about their goals and approach goal setting, and the third scale measured wellbeing using a wellbeing scale consisting of several domains (e.g., relationships, self-acceptance). Additional questions in the survey gave participants a chance to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on retirement goals and participants shared their top three goals as well as experiences about goal changes as a result of the pandemic.
Findings demonstrated that having higher sources of meaning in one’s life and higher planfulness significantly predicted greater wellbeing in older adults. Disruption on retirees’ specific lifestyle retirement goals did not significantly influence wellbeing on its own. However, for participants who were relatively high on planfulness, this acted as a buffer against the negative wellbeing effects that can come from disruption to goals. There was a strong sentiment of frustration from participants regarding goal changes; despite this, many respondents focused on the positives that have come out of the circumstances (e.g. spending time in the garden, writing a book, house renovations), and their ability to put goals on hold or to reassess their importance.
Overall, these findings suggest that individuals who have more meaningfulness in their lives and are focused on setting and achieving goals experience higher wellbeing, even in a pandemic. The results give clues as to how retirees who are low in wellbeing could be best supported, including using interventions to help improve goal setting skills based on current circumstances. Investigations into sources of meaning in life provided insight into what areas of life matter to people and therefore could help shape appropriate and source-relevant interventions to help improve meaningfulness in retirees’ lives.
The results highlight that further research into the longer-term effects of this pandemic on wellbeing will be a necessary topic to investigate and that such research should consider exploring resilience factors, such as coping skills and optimism. Future studies assessing wellbeing across different states of Australia would also provide valuable insight into the wellbeing impact of prolonged periods of lockdown as well as in different age groups, including school aged children – whom, again in Victoria, experienced a very long period of remote learning compared to other states.
