Creative Path to Knowledge 2017–2020 (3rd opening)

Project Focus

The project examines the sense of safety in old age, defined as a fundamental yet ambiguous construct. Focusing on the elderly population, it explores how older adults conceptualize safety, what factors contribute to it, and what constitutes a risk factor. By investigating this unresolved question, the project aims to clarify the construct of safety during this life stage and indirectly aid in understanding paranoid behaviors or the creation of a "mask of false power" that stems from a lack of security.

Short Project Description

The School of Advanced Social Studies (SASS) has once again been highly successful in the Public Call Project Work with the Business and Non-Business Sector in the Local and Regional Environment – Creative Path to Knowledge 2017–2020, 3rd opening.

SASS has successfully secured funding for an engaging project where the key participants are students, pedagogical mentors, and business/non-business entities. The project is designed interdisciplinary and will run from February to the end of June 2020. Interested students are invited to complete the online application form by 6 February 2020.

Students can participate in the PKP project under the following conditions:

  • they have active student status (work conducted via student referral),
  • they are not employed, self-employed, registered as unemployed with the Employment Service of Slovenia, or registered as sole proprietors,
  • participation is open to students who have already participated in PKP or ŠIPK projects in previous years.

The project duration is 5 months, running from 1 February 2020 to 30 June 2020. The remuneration for participation is 5.38 EUR/hour net, with a total pool of 200 hours available per student, which can be flexibly distributed across months. This project is open to undergraduate (1st cycle) and postgraduate (2nd cycle) students from the Psychosocial Assistance study program at the School of Advanced Social Studies in Nova Gorica.

Project Context: The Sense of Safety in Old Age

Safety is one of the fundamental human needs. The sense of safety is a vital factor for both the individual and society as a whole. A person who does not experience a sense of safety often resorts to pre-established survival mechanisms in life, such as developing a false personality power—which is nothing more than a “mask” hiding the actual state of fear or timidness. Such an individual finds it harder to establish relationships, and when they do, they often exploit them. A person lacking a sense of safety may display paranoid behavior, anticipating potential danger in every situation, which dictates their conduct and advance reaction to upcoming events or people.

However, the sense of safety remains a very ambiguous construct that changes across different life stages. Given that the population in the developed world has been aging for several decades, this project addresses the unresolved question of how older adults perceive safety, which factors enhance their sense of security, and which factors pose a risk. The goal of the project is thus to explore what safety truly represents to the elderly.

Pedagogical mentors on the project are Assist. Prof. Dr. Jana Krivec and Assist. Prof. Dr. Tjaša Stepišnik Perdih.