Assessing the effects of older adult education on subjective well-being

The number of educational programs for older adults is increasing. It has been proposed that older adults maintain or increase their subjective well-being by participating in such programs. Indeed, many educational programs targeted for older adults have objectives that deal with enhancing subjective well-being. However, program evaluations that assess the subjective well-being of participants are infrequent. A literature search located only seven research reports including data on the impact of educational programs on the subjective well-being of older adults. The studies mostly were pre-experimental, contained a variety of outcome measures, and yielded inconclusive results. In this paper, we discuss a global and multidimensional perspective of subjective well-being encompassing the constructs of happiness, morale, and life satisfaction by specifying their location on temporal, cognitive, and affective dimensions. We also point out that current scales used to assess these constructs may be inappropriate, because the content of specific items may be inconsistent with program objectives. Recommendations are offered, in terms of measurement and research design issues, for upgrading the evaluation of educational interventions targeted for older adults.