The meaningfulness of life in the elderly

The submitted thesis deals with the issue of the meaning in life in the elderly. The meaningfulness of life, which was as a deep human need listed among the evaluated items in the WHOQOL assessments, is considered to be an important salutogenic factor. The thesis 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 theoretical 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 last chapter of the theoretical part summarizes the existing knowledge regarding the depression in the elderly. The course of the research is described in the empirical part of the thesis. 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..