Background: Retirement is a transition that occurs at the conclusion of the work phase of life, after years in which work has played an important role, and this can interfere with every dimension of the human ageing process. It can be seen as an event, as a status or as a process. Independently of these perspectives, intervention programs can promote the health status of individuals and their families during this life transition. Aging is one of the major issues affecting the current public health framework. For many societies there will be an increasing population of older persons leading to an increase the number of people living with chronic diseases and associated morbidity. As such, there is an urgent need to implement strategies that promote health and the quality of life in stage.
Objectives: The objective of this review was to identify programs that have been implemented with the goal of promoting the health of individuals and their families during their adjustment to retirement and identify the meaningfulness and appropriateness of programs implemented to improve the health status of individuals and families during their adjustment to retirement.
Types of participants: This review considered studies that included individuals newly retired (within five years of retirement) and their families. We did not consider any age range; what was important was the experience of the individual, independent of the age in which this transition occurred.
Phenomena of interest: This review considered studies that investigated the experiences of individuals and families during the initial retirement period who were subject to programs implemented to improve their health status, excluding programs that had returning to the labor market as a goal. Types of studies: This review considered interpretive or critical studies that drew on the experiences of individuals and their families including, but not limited to, designs such as phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography, action research and feminist research. In the absence of research studies, other text such as opinion papers and reports were considered.
Search strategy: The search strategy aimed to find both published and unpublished studies. An initial search of MEDLINE and CINAHL was undertaken followed by an analysis of text words contained in the title and abstract, and of index terms used to describe the article. Using all identified keywords and index terms, another search was then undertaken across all included databases. The reference list of all identified reports and articles was searched for additional studies. Studies published in Portuguese, English and Spanish, and those published from 2000 to 2013 were considered for inclusion.
Results: The number of potentially relevant studies identified following the search was 567. Of these, seven were excluded as duplicates; of the remaining 560, from the title and abstract assessment, 540 were excluded, and 20 out of the 20 articles were excluded for not fulfilling the inclusion criteria when the full text was read. There were no studies located that met the inclusion criteria of this review.
Conclusions: There is currently no evidence available to determine the meaningfulness and appropriateness of programs that have been implemented to improve the health status of individuals and families during their adjustment to retirement. According to the conducted analysis, health promotion in retirement is an area which needs scientific and economic investment as there is a lack of evidence that describes programs directed to retirees and their families and that measure the meaningfulness and appropriateness in what concerns their health status.
Keywords: Course; family; individual; program; retirement; strategy.
The Joanna Briggs Institute.