Psychosocial health trajectories of older adults in a structured University of the Third Age educational program: A single-group pretest–posttest longitudinal study in Türkiye

Despite rapid population aging in Türkiye, little longitudinal evidence exists as to whether structured lifelong-learning programs improve psychosocial health among older adults, and no University of the Third Age (U3A) program in Türkiye has been evaluated prospectively with validated instruments. This study evaluated psychosocial health changes over a 24-week U3A program. The program comprised face-to-face core courses and interest-based electives (multidisciplinary educational, social, and physical activity sessions) delivered by university faculty in accordance with geragogical principles. Using a single-group pretest–posttest longitudinal design, 54 community-dwelling older adults aged 60–76 years (mean age 66.6 ± 4.2 years; 81.5% women) were assessed at baseline, mid-term, and end of year. Five validated instruments measured resilience, mental well-being, quality of life, sleep quality, and loneliness; linear mixed models analyzed trajectories. Statistically significant improvements were observed in mental well-being (p < .001, ηp2 = .73), sleep quality (p < .001, ηp2 = .18), and loneliness (p < .001, ηp2 = .41), whereas resilience and quality of life remained stable. In practical terms, mean loneliness moved from the moderate band of the scale toward its lower end, and mental well-being rose by approximately 2.4 baseline standard deviations. Exploratory interaction analyses suggested differences in mental well-being by income and in loneliness by gender, which did not remain significant after correction for multiple testing. Because the design lacked a control group, the observed changes cannot be attributed causally to the program. Structured lifelong learning warrants consideration as a scalable component of healthy-aging policy, contingent on confirmation in controlled longitudinal studies.