Effect of Training Intervention and Exercises on Retirement Syndrome and Quality of Life of Elderly Retired Men in South of Iran

Increased proportion of the retired population and the occurrence of retirement syndrome may significantly affect the Quality of life (QoL) and the well-being of older people. Therefore, the present study was conducted to examine the effect of training intervention on retirement syndrome and QoL among retired older men in Safashahr, Iran, in 2019.

 Using a randomized block design, the quasi-experimental study was conducted on 140 retired men with retirement syndrome. The subjects’ average age was 61.24±1.36 years. The older people were selected by purposive sampling and then randomly assigned to an experimental group (n=70) and a control group (n=70). The intervention comprised five 90-minute sessions of the practical training course of exercises for over 45 days in the experimental group. The study outcomes, such as retirement syndrome and QoL, were measured before, immediately after, and two months after the intervention. The study data were analyzed using SPSS Statistics 25, independent sample t-tests, Chi-square tests, and repeated measure ANOVA. The significance level was set at 0.05.

Based on the average score of retirement syndrome (< 0.001) and its subscales, such as helplessness and failure (HF) (p< 0.001), feeling of old and idle (FOI) (<0.001), feeling of confusion and conflict (FCC) (p<0.001), and feeling of effort and a new direction (FED) (p=0.025); an average score of QoL (p<0.001) and all its subscales, including physical activities (p<0.001), physical health (p<0.001), emotional problems (p<0.001), vitality (p< 0.001), mental health (p<0.001), general health perceptions (<0.001), except for physical pain (0.347) and social performance (0.41), there is a significant difference between the two experimental and control groups, before and after the intervention.

The findings may provide valuable implications for the development of exercises among the elderly and further studies to evaluate the long-term effects of such interventions among the elderly.