Perspectives From Positive Psychology In Older Adults: Brief Literature Review

Abstract

The present review aims to determine the main findings concerning positive psychology in older adults. We used the electronic databases Web of Science and EBSCO, which were efficient tools to find the necessary heterogeneity for the selection of studies published between 2005 and 2015, through the following keywords: “Positive Psychology” and “Older”. After selecting 12 studies, they were assessed regarding the following information: (a) source; (b) setting; (c) number of older adults (participants); (d) average age (SD); (e) inclusion criteria for each study; (f) instruments; and (g) the results of our investigative question. The results show that interventions with a positive psychology approach are favorable to the reduction of symptoms (anxiety and depression) and the increase of well-being; and positive psychology constructs have the same impact on well-being and on reducing symptoms, portraying a promising approach to public health. Our investigation showed the necessity to develop a new perspective on aging. Some of the assessed studies reported that it is possible to achieve this with the inclusion of positive psychology, which can facilitate this development.