The article attempts to analyse the issue of students with autism spectrum disorders who attend two types of educational institutions – integrated classes in mainstream state school and special education institutions with separate classes for students with autism. Popularity and availability more often than effectiveness affect the choice of an educational institution. Parents’ decisions may also stem from lack of awareness of the scope of educational activities conducted in each institution. One of the measures of educational success is the evaluation of the quality of life in certain spheres of students’ lives.

Toruńskie środowisko naukowe przez 25 lat obserwuje (na początku aktywnie uczestnicząc w tym procesie) działanie Polaków na Łotwie, mające na celu odbudowę szkoły dla mniejszości polskiej. Prowadzenie badań longitudinalnych pozwala nam uchwycić dynamikę procesu transmisji kultury, tradycji i języka polskiego, wskazać rolę podmiotów szkoły mających kluczowe znaczenie dla kształtowania się poczucia tożsamości narodowej pokolenia młodych Polaków urodzonych i mieszkających na Łotwie, korzystających z szansy edukacji w języku polskim i łotewskim. Towarzyszyliśmy uczniom przez okres edukacji szkolnej, będąc przy nich w momentach ważnych, tj. rozpoczęcia oraz ukończenia podstawowej szkoły polskiej i przejścia do szkoły średniej łotewskiej czy rosyjskiej. Niniejszy projekt badawczy stanowi kontynuację poprzednich eksploracji. Tym razem uwaga nasza skupiona jest na absolwentach szkoły (pierwsze cztery roczniki) – dzisiaj młodych trzydziestolatkach. Problem główny projektowanych badań zawiera się w pytaniach: Jaka jest jakość życia i poczucie osobistego sukcesu młodych absolwentów szkoły polskiej w Rydze i w jaki sposób są one różnicowane cechami usytuowania socjodemograficznego, aktualną sytuacją życiową i zawodową, uwarunkowane kontekstem społeczno-kulturowym, w jakim funkcjonują jako ludzie dorośli? Proponujemy ujęcie jakości życia i osiągniętego statusu społecznego absolwentów w formie przedstawienia trajektorii ich życia.

Celem artykułu jest przedstawienie problematyki jakości życia osób z przewlekłą chorobą dermatologiczną. W pierwszej części opracowania scharakteryzowano pojęcie choroby przewlekłej, ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem choroby dermatologicznej jako kategorii piętna powodującego marginalizację oraz wykluczenie społeczne. Część druga dotyczy jakości życia osób z chorobą dermatologiczną na płaszczyznach: fizycznej, psychicznej oraz społecznej. W części trzeciej opisano trudności terapeutyczne i funkcjonalne, których doświadczają osoby cierpiące na wybrane schorzenia dermatologiczne: atopowe zapalenie skóry, łysienie plackowate oraz łuszczycę. Zakończenie jest próbą wskazania przykładów działań pomocowych podejmowanych przez sektor pozarządowy na rzecz osób chorujących dermatologicznie.

Under conditions of aggravation of external and internal contradictions of economic character, importance of increase of the state national security level, an urgent need of search of system algorithm for construction of integral paradigm of economic security appears. The main trend of further economic development of society is the connection of economic security of the state and the welfare economy of society in a single target function, which fully reveals and realizes the economic potential of the state and society. The level of the country’s welfare is the basis for making certain government decisions in the socio-economic sphere. It has been noted that economic security of welfare is ensuring the protection of interests and creating favorable conditions for ensuring a high standard of living and welfare of society in the implementation of the State Strategy for Economic Security. The place of economic security of welfare in the system of national security has been determined - the high level of its realization is a springboard for strengthening and further development of other components of the country’s economic life. Improvement of the public administration efficiency is one of the conditions for ensuring sustainable socio-economic development of the country, region and raising of living standards of the population.

The paper presents a theoretical analysis of the links between human health and the quality of life, referring to the period of the old age and aging. The starting point for the analysis was the systemic, holistic and salutogenetic approach to health as physical, mental, social, and spiritual wellbeing, the level of which is determined not only by the human biology but also lifestyle and factors in the living environment. The article shows that wellbeing, which is achieved, among other things, through an active lifestyle and good living conditions, is a category uniting health and the quality of life in the subjective and objective dimensions. Given the inevitability of involutional biological changes and social inequalities in the period of aging and the old age, it was recognized that pedagogical activities aimed at improving the quality of life of seniors are a part of the educational aspects of health promotion. The purpose of “education in the old age” is to free the health potential of senior citizens by stimulating their active lifestyle, which, however, requires education to prepare people for their old age.

Background: The issue of grandparents’ support provided to their families is undertaken in Polish literature very seldom. There are no studies concerning single mother families. The purpose of the article is to examine the extent to which grandparents provide support to grandchildren brought up in single mother families, and determine the relationship between the grandparents’ support and the grandchildren’s quality of life. Materials and Methods: The survey data were collected from 119 people from single mother families. The Student’s Life Satisfaction Scale SLSS was used to test the quality of life and the Social Support Scale (SWS) was used to test the strength and type of support from grandparents. Results: Mother’s parents are involved in each of the considered types of support in a higher degree than father’s parents, regardless of the place of residence of the single mother family. In small towns maternal grandparents provide information support more often than paternal grandparents, maternal grandmothers engage in instrumental aid to grandchildren more often than paternal grandparents. In cases of families living in large cities, when the paternal grandfather gives instrumental, emotional or evaluative support, grandchildren assess their quality of life significantly better. The assessment of quality of life is also higher in cases of maternal grandfather’s emotional engagement in support for grandchildren. Conclusions: The results suggest that the grandfathers’ (particularly paternal grandfather’s) support in the single mother family is positively connected with quality of life of grandchildren. It can be assumed that supporting grandparents contribute to strengthening the resilience of whole family.

It was a daunting task before the Nehru-led government to frame a suitable policy of governance for secluded North-Eastern states which were completely separated from the mainstream British India. Due to the historical background as well as the geographical location of the region the government of India has long been tried to integrate the North-Eastern states with mainland India keeping social and cultural institutions of that region unaltered. With the continuous pursuance of protective and proactive role by the government growth scenario of the North-Eastern states has turned out to be satisfactory. Per-capita income has also been growing at a moderate rate and poverty both in absolute and relative term and inequality are declining. However, the worrying factor is that growth is pronounced where government is acting as principal economic actor. In addition, most of the North-Eastern states have demonstrated very poor fiscal condition and solely relying on central assistance. Economic integration sought under a decentralised development model on the failed promise of bringing equitable development across the North-Eastern states has acted as an incentive to raise the demand for special constitutional arrangements, separate state or country based on ethnicity or identity. Finally, occasional use of coercive forces, doling out of funds, and providing autonomy without accountability are the adhoc measures often used by the state to settle the unsettled culturo-social and politicoeconomic issues rooted in the Indian soil based on the notion of the abortive post-colonial Indian nationhood. Resultantly, the grand Indian nation state would certainly suffer from hyper-paranoia and a dreamer for “welfare state” will continue to be interrogated amidst the quagmire of movements based on identity and ethnicity.

Euroorphanhood concerns of older people whose children are staying abroad for a long time (in the project at least 12 months). Traditional network of support in Polish society is based on familiocentrism. According to this theory, the younger generations have obligations to the oldest members of their families which arising from the bonds of blood. Phenomenon of interest to us is its existential dimension (quality of life) and essential (quality of life). It is equally important, the objective (defined state of affairs) and subjective (personal sense of quality of life) approach. Euroorphanhood is a development phenomenon, because of a large spatial mobility of the younger generation on the one hand and quickly extending of the human life cycle. In this approach euroorphanhood will be subjected to empirical testing – it will be a comparative study in three countries: Lithuania, Latvia, Poland.

Purpose: This paper attempts to examine the concept of successful ageing (SA) from the perspectives of older adults. Methods: Data were gathered from 224 persons. The research used a categorized interview and a test as methods of data collection. In order to select the types of subjective definitions of SA, the method of cluster analysis was applied. Results: 5 types of definitions were distinguished: 1) Around 40% of older adults consider the biomedical model to be in line with their idea of good old age, but they also add new components that they consider more important. These are: Living in an environment of loving persons (Type 1 definitions), and Religiousness, Generativity, Relationships with others based on love (Type 4). 2) About 40% of the respondents’ present one-dimensional definitions, with one of the following factors: Family (Type 2), and Religiousness (Type 3). 3) Lack of a precise definition is more often demonstrated in people with low life satisfaction who have been experiencing difficult life situations in recent times. Conclusions: Understanding of SA depends on life satisfaction and the context related to the life situation. Three key words are essential for the definitions: family, activity, religion.

This study aims to analyse parents’ perception of the pandemic’s impact on their daily lives, considering experienced stressful COVID-19-related events, and effect on the condition of family members. A total of 1072 triads (mother, father, and child) participated in the study. We assessed the perceived changes in daily lives due to the pandemic and the occurrence of seven stressful COVID-19 events (for both parents) and positive and negative affective states experienced in the last few weeks (for both parents and their children). Fathers who were prohibited from doing their job or experienced a decrease in income during the pandemic were more likely to perceive greater negative changes in the quality of their daily lives. Mothers’ perception of negative changes was associated with decreased income, death of a close person, self-isolation and the father’s negative affect. Personal or child experience of the COVID-19 infection did not contribute to the explanation of the variance of perceived deterioration in daily lives in none of the samples.

The aim of this study was to analyze the quality of life (QOL) of 142 primary school teachers and 145 firemen-rescuers. To determine QOL we used a WHOQOL-BREFF questionnaire. Teachers’ QOL was significantly lower in all four domains when compared with firefighters’ QOL; however, it did not differ statistically from the Czech population norms. Significantly lower compared to the norm was only teachers’ satisfaction with their health. Our results showed a significant influence of profession, age and gender on QOL. The influence of subjectively perceived mental stress as a factor reducing the QOL was manifested only in teachers. The explanation for this difference in QOL could be predicting better physical and mental health of firefighters.

Cooperation between children’s homes and facilities for seniors may be considered the most humane way of integration of both social groups living in residential care conditions. Therefore, development of various socio-educational programmes is a challenge that should be taken note of by any children’s home and facility for seniors. Effectively filled time of children from children’s homes may have a preventive effect against possible socio-pathological phenomena or work as prevention against ageism and support of intergenerational relations.

The concept of life span assumes that old age is a period of development being a balance of gains and losses. Aging goes hand in hand with increasing losses and decreasing gains. The system theory perceives a human being as a psychophysical system which can be easily seen in critical periods, e.g. old age. Thus, it is assumed that psyche and soma are interdependent. Taking into consideration the way old age is perceived, the balance of way and the feeling of life control, one may assume that these factors may influence physical abilities and somatic health of an organism. Old age is not an illness but increased vulnerability to illnesses. Speaking objectively, one may say that age as a feature of getting old weakens the immunological system of the organism in a natural way and thus it increases the vulnerability to a variety of illnesses and decreases physical abilities. It is possible to avoid the physiological processes connected with aging. One may hypothesize, however, that a positive approach towards old age, good balance of life and a feeling of internal control slow down the processes of aging of cells and vice versa. The overall aim of slowing down these processes is not to prolong human life but to increase the quality of life. The research carried out was based on the assumption that the way a person sees his or her life, the balance of life and the feeling of control go hand in hand with physical agility. The research covered 436 people, i.e. 120 men and 316 women, all of them over 60. A set of mutual relationships of the indicated variables was determined and an analysis of repeated regression was made. The conclusion is: better balance of life and better positive self-image go hand in hand with better physical agility of the examined individuals. It is difficult to say which of the factors are primary or secondary. It seems that there is an interdependence.

The sense of security is the subject of scientific research and is analyzed by various government institutions and non-governmental organizations. In the research context, it refers to both the subjective feeling of individual security and social security. The results of individual studies should be a source of inspiration for political decision-makers and people in power, both at the government and local levels, in the process of developing programs for shaping security in local communities. A high level of subjective sense of security directly affects the quality of social and individual life. In addition, test results can play an important role in assessing the accuracy of diagnosis, helping to identify the most important concerns of the individual and society. This information is necessary to effectively shape strategies aimed at improving the quality of life and safety of citizens.

The objective of this study is to identify the socio-educational needs in childhood with congenital heart disease. Our study was carried out using a multi-method, it combines quantitative and qualitative data collected in Catalonia (Spain). The results obtained from the questionnaires and interviews with education professionals, children with congenital heart disease and their families have enabled us to establish categories. Analysis of these has provided knowledge of their socioeducational needs. This article highlights the need to consider this impact as well as its psychosocial and educational effect, and the need to focus school education on improving their quality of life.