Older people's motives for participation in senior clubs. On the example of research in rural environments in the Podkarpackie Voivodeship

The article presents preliminary results of research conducted among participants of senior clubs. The aim of this article is to try to answer the question of what are the motives for older people's participation in senior clubs. The data from surveys carried out in nine senior clubs in rural environments in the north-eastern part of the Podkarpackie Voivodeship. The research covered 131 seniors. The statistical analysis of research results proved that the main reasons for older people joining senior clubs are: the desire to make new friends with people of a similar age, as well as the desire to spend spare time in an active way and the need to acquire a new knowledge.The research has also proven that the level of education of respondents differentiates their declared reasons for joining senior clubs. Seniors with at least secondary education want to integrate with other older people and to develop and deepen their knowledge more often than respondents with a lower level of education. Seniors with vocational education mainly want to spend their spare time actively. Seniors with primary education are motivated more often than other respondents by loneliness and a lack of ideas on how to manage their spare time. Research on the motives for older people's participation in senior clubs may have not only cognitive but also practical value. They may be useful for institutions implementing activation programs for older people in local communities, especially when the problem is to properly motivate older people to participate in this type of initiatives.