The definition of active aging endorsed by the World Health Organization (WHO)
in 2002 requires from different professionals and institutions a systematic work
with people along the process of ageing, involving the promotion of health, the
assurance of conditions of security and the offering of opportunities for participation,
including learning activities that promote personal development and
well-being. Seniors living in residential care homes are not excluded from this
definition and it is important to know how these institutions are trying to respond
to the challenge launched by the WHO about a decade ago. This chapter
is based on an empirical study carried out in eight residential homes for the
elderly in the municipality of Coimbra, Portugal, and involved a sample of 146
old people who answered a structured interview protocol. The main objective of
this research was to elicit elders’ perceptions about their life in institutions, in
order to outline possible changes with the goal of promoting their quality of life
in the last years of their life in a context different from their family or their own
homes. The focus of our analyses in this chapter is on the elders’ answers about
their participation in learning and recreational activities promoted by institutions
where they live and also about their self-perceptions about their abilities to
learn and to contribute to a dynamic environment inside the institution that goes
beyond the ‘assistentialist’ perspective of these entities. Despite the small size
of the sample, data showed that there is a long way to go in order to effectively offer opportunities for participation to institutionalized elders, whether it involves
experiences of learning and of personal development, or ordinary decisions
related to their daily life as individuals and full citizens.