Per una concezione multimensionale dell’Activity degli anziani. Tra partecipazione associativa e caregiving,

[Autom. eng. transl.] What is the end point of becoming elderly and starting to experience a condition of dependence, exclusion from active social life, fragility on a psychological, physical and social level? The most immediate answer to this question can only lead to that phase of existence represented by the last transition. Today, however, we know that increased life expectancy allows people to spend a few years, sometimes decades, not entirely affected by the more demanding processes related to aging. What can make a difference in the daily lives of those who are directly affected by the aging process and of those (family members, formal and informal care-givers) who participate in it? A change of perspective: the idea that this is a new and different age of life. In this perspective, the nostalgic retrotopia of what the elderly person has been is not sufficient to give new meaning to the present: rather, the aging person must be able to attribute meaning for himself and meaning for others both in informal and formal ties and social. In this reflection, the propensity for activity and the field experiences conducted by active elderly associations document a cultural and structural morphogenesis relating to the specific phase of the life cycle of the people considered here.