Factors affecting Post-retirement Satisfaction of Community-Dwelling Older Adults

Retirement is a potentially dramatic life transition in later adulthood as it indicates that theindividual just begins to be old. It is usually associated with many physical, psychological and socialchanges. Retirement satisfaction is extremely influenced by availability of convenient resources.Objective: The aim of the study is to determine factors affecting postretirement satisfaction ofcommunity-dwelling older adults. Setting: The current study executed in at outpatient clinics of twohospitals; Gamal Abdel-Nasser and Farouk hospitals in Alexandria. Subjects: Participants eligiblefor inclusion in the study were 210 retirees of 60 to 85 years of age, retired from full-time paid work,and able to communicate effectively. Tools: Three tools were used for data collection; Sociodemographicand clinical structured interview schedule, Retirement Satisfaction Inventory andRetirement Resources Inventory. Results: The result of existing study showed that 49.0% of the studiedsample expressed low satisfaction level with the current life circumstances post – retirement and68.1% of them had low overall retirement resources. Conclusion: High satisfaction level issignificantly correlated to the high level of global resources. The most rife factors associated withhigher satisfaction degree with life post-retirement were the retirees’ age, sex, marital status, level ofeducation, occupation before retirement, income, absence of chronic illnesses, ability to accomplishvarious activities of daily living, and pre-retirement planning. Additional significant relationship wasfound between satisfaction of the retired older adults with life and the inclusive domains of theirlifestyle pattern. Recommendations: Constant delineation and application of pre-retirement planningprograms should be done. All variables that contribute to post-retirement satisfaction; particularlysupported retirement resources; should be assessed continuously during retirement experience period.