Abstract
The book deals with the issue of the meaning in life in the elderly. The first part specifies the fundamental terms regarding the ageing, the elderly, the demographic evolution of the contemporary society, health and psychosocial aspects of ageing and the seniors' needs.
Further, this part summarizes the theoretical knowledge about the issue of quality of life and its meaning, the methods of their examination and the results of research. The book briefly introduces logotherapy, a method focused on the revelation and renewal of the meaning in life and the orientation towards values.
It also mentions the possibilities of logotherapeutic approach in the communication with seniors being in a difficult life situation. The next chapter summarizes the existing knowledge regarding the depression in the elderly.
In the last chapter of the book is described the course of the research. The aim of the research was to find out to what extent the seniors over 75 years of age in the Czech Republic live their lives as meaningful, to compare the measure of meaningfulness of life of older and younger seniors, to verify the influence of certain demographic, social and functional factors and to find predictors of meaningfulness of life in the elderly.
The study also examines the occurrence of the depression in the selected sample of respondents in the relation to the meaningfulness of life.