{"id":130490,"date":"2026-02-20T12:39:59","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T11:39:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ffos.unios.hr\/odrzano-peto-dogadanje-u-sklopu-14-ciklusa-otvorenog-cetvrtka\/"},"modified":"2026-09-24T15:09:45","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T13:09:45","slug":"fifth-event-held-as-part-of-the-14th-open-thursday-cycle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ffos.unios.hr\/en\/fifth-event-held-as-part-of-the-14th-open-thursday-cycle\/","title":{"rendered":"Fifth Event Held as Part of the 14th Open Thursday Cycle"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Thursday, 19 February 2026, the fifth popular science event within the 14th Open Thursday cycle was held as part of FUZ&JA, the science popularisation project of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Osijek. The event featured a lecture on the challenges of caring for older people and the future of institutional and non-institutional forms of support. The lecture was delivered by Petar \u0160ajfar, PhD, and Suzana Toma\u0161evi\u0107 from the Faculty of Law in Osijek, who focused the discussion on the position of older people in contemporary society and the question: where should we go in old age?<\/p>\n

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Petar \u0160ajfar, PhD, opened his presentation with this very question, pointing out that it had hardly arisen for previous generations. Shorter life expectancy and stable, multigenerational family structures made institutional care less necessary. In contemporary circumstances, however, longer life expectancy and changes in family dynamics have created a need for a systematic approach to care. Speaking about institutional care, he emphasised that it can benefit not only older people, but also their families, institutional staff, local communities and society as a whole. Nevertheless, he raised a key question: why do some older people not want to live in a care home? In this context, he highlighted that older people are \u201cexperts by experience\u201d and that their actual needs cannot be properly assessed without their active participation.<\/p>\n

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The central part of his presentation focused on the concept of the total institution, in which all aspects of life take place in one location and under the same rules. The speaker examined three categories of total institutions in greater detail: institutions for people who are unable to care for themselves (such as residential care homes for older and infirm people), institutions for people who are unable to care for themselves but are also perceived as a potential threat to society (such as psychiatric institutions), and institutions for people considered a threat to society (such as prisons). The negative characteristics of total institutions were also emphasised: living in one place without the freedom to choose with whom to share one\u2019s space; a strictly structured daily schedule; activities directed towards achieving the institution\u2019s goals rather than necessarily those of the individual; separation from previous social and economic roles; residents having to adapt to institutional rules; the loss of personal possessions and their replacement with standardised institutional items; and a form of \u201cstandardisation of identity\u201d. Particular attention was also given to contaminative exposure, namely the loss of privacy and autonomy, as well as the reduced ability to manage one\u2019s own time independently. In conclusion, \u0160ajfar emphasised that institutional care is an important part of the care system, but it must not be the only option. Instead, it should form part of a broader network of services available to older people.<\/p>\n

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In the second part of the lecture, Suzana Toma\u0161evi\u0107 turned her attention to the demographic situation in the Republic of Croatia, which shows a decline in the working-age population. This raises the question of who will provide care for older people in the future and what form that care will take. She interpreted population ageing as a sign of civilisational progress, since humanity is, for the first time, seeing such a large number of older people. At the same time, however, it is a process that generates numerous social, economic and professional challenges. The historical development of care for older people from the 1950s to the present day was also presented, along with contemporary strategic documents guiding its further development. Particular emphasis was placed on preserving the dignity of older people and recognising their needs as the fundamental basis of all development plans. Three key foundations for developing future care models were highlighted: systematic research into the needs of older people, cooperation among all stakeholders with the active participation of older people themselves, and lifelong education, including encouraging individuals to develop a personal plan for life in old age.<\/p>\n

In conclusion, it was emphasised that there is currently no single answer to the question of where to go in old age. However, solutions continue to be sought through dialogue, cooperation and respect for the experience and dignity of older people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Thursday, 19 February 2026, the fifth popular science event within the 14th Open Thursday cycle was held as part of FUZ&JA, the science popularisation project of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Osijek. The event featured a lecture on the challenges of caring for older people and the future of institutional and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":130488,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[],"calendar":[],"class_list":["post-130490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","topics-public-engagement"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ffos.unios.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ffos.unios.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ffos.unios.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ffos.unios.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ffos.unios.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130490"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ffos.unios.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130490\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":130494,"href":"https:\/\/www.ffos.unios.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130490\/revisions\/130494"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ffos.unios.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ffos.unios.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ffos.unios.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ffos.unios.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130490"},{"taxonomy":"calendar","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ffos.unios.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/calendar?post=130490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}